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THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


THE  EMPEROR  OF  KOREA 


•i 


THE 


PASSING  OF  KOREA 


BY 

HOMER  B.  ^ULBERT 

A.M.,  F.R.G.S. 

Author  of  “The  History  of  Korea,”  “Comparative  Grammar 
OF  Korean  and  Dravidian,”  “A  Search  for  the 
Siberian  Klondike,”  etc. 


Illustrated  from  Photographs 


ii  -f  o o ' * 

NEW  YORK 

Doubleday,  Page  & Company 

1909 


Copyright,  1906,  by 
Doubleday,  Page  & Company 
Published,  September,  1906 


All  righi%  reser'vedy 

including  that  of  translation  into  foreign  languages^ 
including  the  Scandina'vian 


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SeTlicatelf 


TO  HIS  MAJESTY 

THE  EMPEROR  OF  KOREA 


AS  A TOKEN  OF  HIGH  ESTEEM  AND  A PLEDGE  OF 
UNWAVERING  ALLEGIANCE,  AT  A TIME  WHEN 
CALUMNY  HAS  DONE  ITS  WORST  AND 
JUSTICE  HAS  SUFFERED  AN  ECLIPSE 


AND 


TO  THE  KOREAN  PEOPLE 


WHO  ARE  NOW  WITNESSING  THE  PASSING  OF  OLD  KOREA 
TO  GIVE  PLACE  TO  A NEW,  WHEN  THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE 
NATION,  QUICKENED  BY  THE  TOUCH  OF  FIRE, 

SHALL  HAVE  PROVED  THAT  THOUGH 
“SLEEP  IS  THE  IMAGE  OF  DEATH  ” 

IT  IS  NOT  DEATH  ITSELF 


PREFACE 


Many  excellent  books  have  been  written  about  Korea,  each 
of  them  approaching  the  subject  from  a slightly  different 
angle.  In  the  present  volume  I have  attempted  to  handle  the 
theme  from  a more  intimate  standpoint  than  that  of  the  casual 
tourist. 

Much  that  is  contained  in  this  present  volume  is  matter  that  has 
come  under  the  writer’s  personal  observation  or  has  been  derived 
directly  from  Koreans  or  from  Korean  works.  Some  of  this  matter 
has  already  appeared  in  The  Korea  Review  and  elsewhere.  The 
historical  survey  is  a condensation  from  the  writer’s  “ History  of 
Korea.  ” 

This  book  is  a labour  of  love,  undertaken  in  the  days  of  Korea’s 
distress,  with  the  purpose  of  interesting  the  reading  public  in  a 
country  and  a people  that  have  been  frequently  maligned  and  sel- 
dom appreciated.  They  are  overshadowed  by  China  on  the  one 
hand  in  respect  of  numbers,  and  by  Japan  oiji  th^  other, in  respect 
of  wit.  They  are  neither  good  merchants  lil<eAlie  She  ''nor  ^ood 
fighters  like  the  other,  and  yet  they  are  far  more  like  Anglo-Saxons 
in  temperament  than  either,  and  they  are  by  far  the  pleasantest 
people  in  the  Far  East  to  live  amongst.  Their  failings  are  such  as 
follow  in  the  wake  of  ignorance  everywhere,  and  the  bettering  of 
their  opportunities  will  bring  swift  betterment  to  their  condition. 

For  aid  in  the  compilation  of  this  book  my  thanks  are  mainly 
due  to  a host  of  kindly  Koreans  from  every  class  in  society,  from 
the  silk-clad  yangban  to  the  fettered  criminal  in  prison,  from  the 
men  who  go  up  the  mountains  to  monasteries  to  those  who  go 
down  to  the  sea  in  ships. 

H.  B.  H. 

New  York,  1906. 


I 


A 

i 


/ 


I 


CONTENTS 


Page 

Introductory.  The  Problem 3 

Chapter 

I.  Where  and  what  Korea  is  above  and  below  Ground  10 

II.  The  People 27  . 

III.  Government 45 

IV.  Legendary  and  Ancient  History 69 

V.  MgjDiEyAL  History 78  ^ 

VI.  The  Golden  Age  of  Korea  and  the  Japanese  Invasion  90L  - 
VH.  The  Manchu  Invasion  and  Early  Christianity.  . . 103 

VIII.  The  Opening  of  Korea 114 

IX.  The  Assassination  of. the  .Queen 

X.  The  Independence  Club 148 

XI.  Russian  Intrigue 169 

XH.  The  Japan-Russia  War 185 

XIII.  The  Battle  of  Chemulpo 199 

XIV.  The  Japanese  in  Korea 208 

XV.  Revenue 225 

XVI.  The  Currency 234 

XVII.  Architecture  and  Building 241 

XVIII.  Transportation 252 

XIX.  Korean  Industries 269 

XX.  Domestic  and  Foreign  Trade 281 

XXI.  Monuments  and  Relics 288 

XXII.  Language 300 


CONTENTS 


Chapter  Page 

XXIII.  Literature 306 

XXIV.  Music  and  Poetry 314 

XXV.  Art 330 

XXVI.  Education 335 

XXVII.  The  Emperor  of  Korea 343 

XXVIII.  Woman’s  Position 349 

XXIX.  Folk-lore 372 

XXX.  Religion  and  Superstition 403 

XXXI.  Slavery 432 

XXXII.  Funeral  Procession  — Geomancy 437 

XXXIII.  Burial  Customs 445 

XXXIV.  Modern  Improvements 456 

XXXV.  The  Future  of  Korea . . 461 


INDEX 


467 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


The  Ejiperor  of  Korea Frojitispiece 

FACING  PAGE 

The  Faithful  Fuel-Carriers  of  Korea iS 

Shoeing  a Bull 20 

American  Bridge  across  the  Han 28 

A Dancing-Girl  Posturing 40 

Otium  sine  Dignitate 62 

Relics  of  Ancient  Korea 72 

Three  Bridges  of  Korea 74 

Ruins  of  “Golden  Pagoda,”  Ancient  Silla 82 

Bas-Relief  on  Door  of  Ancient  Silla  Pagoda 82 

Astronomical  Observatory  of  Ancient  Silla 82 

The  Marble  Pagoda  in  Seoul 86 

A Buddhist  Relic  in  the  South 86 

The  Late  Regent,  Prince  Tai-Wun 116 

Buddhist  Abbot  130 

A Picturesque  Nook  in  the  Old  Palace 132 

A Palace-Woman  in  Full  Regalia 138 

Two  of  the  Foreign  Legations  in  Korea 150 

The  Japanese  Legation 190 

The  French  Legation  Building 204 

Martial  Law 210 

Views  of  Picturesque  Korea 216 

Min  Yong  Whan,  Prince  and  General 222 

The  Korean  Farmer 226 

A Corner  Grocery  244 

How  they  Shovel  Dirt 246 

Building  a Dirt  Wall 248 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


FACING  PAGE 


xii 

Art  and  Religion 250 

Water-Carriers  at  a Neighbourhood  Well 258 

The  Shipyard 260 

Two  Industries  of  Korea 264 

Automatic  Water-Mill 266 

Hulling  Rice 270 

Poultry  Peddler 270 

Boys  who  Gather  Grass  for  Fuel 272 

Dead  Child  Tied  to  Tree 272 

Placer  Gold-Mining 274 

An  Archery  Tournament 278 

An  Interesting  Chess  Problem 282 

Swinging 286 

Stone  Dog,  Guardian  of  Palace  against  Fire 290 

A Boundary  Stone 294 

Symbols  of  Korea’s  Religion 296 

A Member  of  the  Body-Guard  of  the  God  of  War  ....  302 

Village  Devil-Posts 302 

Mural  Decorations  in  Old  Palace 332 

Woman’s  Correct  Street  Costume 354 

The  Laundry « • 356 

Imperul  “ Funeral  Baked  Meats  ” 440 

A Prince’s  Tomb 448 

The  South  Gate,  Seoul 450 

Stone  Image  near  Tomb 452 

The  American  Methodist  Church,  Seoul 454 

Residence  of  the  American  Consul-General 458 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


The  Passing  of  Korea 

INTRODUCTORY 

THE  PROBLEM 

There  is  a peculiar  pathos  in  the  extinction  of  a 
nation.  Especially  is  this  true  when  the  nation  is 
one  whose  history  stretches  back  into  the  dim  cen- 
turies until  it  becomes  lost  in  a labyrinth  of  myth 
and  legend ; a nation  which  has  played  an  important  part  in  the 
moulding  of  other  nations  and  which  is  filled  with  monuments 
of  past  achievements.  Kija,  the  founder  of  Korean  civilisation, 
flourished  before  the  reign  of  David  in  Jerusalem.  In  the  fifth 
century  after  Christ,  Korea  enjoyed  a high  degree  of  civilisa- 
tion, and  was  the  repository  from  which  the  half-savage  tribes 
of  Japan  drew  their  first  impetus  toward  culture.  As  time  went 
on  Japan  was  so  fortunate  as  to  become  split  up  into  numerous 
semi-independent  baronies,  each  under  the  control  of  a so-called 
Daimyo  or  feudal  baron.  This  resulted,  as  feudalism  every- 
where has  done,  in  the  development  of  an  intense  personal 
loyalty  to  an  overlord,  which  is  impossible  in  a large  state.  If 
one  were  to  examine  the  condition  of  European  states  to-day, 
he  would  find  that  they  are  enlightened  just  in  proportion  as  the 
feudal  idea  was  worked  out  to  its  ultimate  issues,  and  wherever, 
as  in  southern  Europe,  the  centrifugal  power  of  feudalism  was 
checked  by  the  centripetal  power  of  ecclesiasticism  one  finds  a 
lower  grade  of  enlightenment,  education  and  genuine  liberty. 
In  other  words,  the  feudal  system  is  a chrysalis  state  from  which 
a people  are  prepared  to  leap  into  the  full  light  of  free  self- 
government.  Neither  China  nor  Korea  has  enjoyed  that  state, 
and  it  is  therefore  manifestly  impossible  for  them  to  effect  any 
such  startling  change  as  that  which  transformed  Japan  in  a 


4 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


single  decade  from  a cruel  and  bigoted  exclusiveness  to  an  open 
and  enthusiastic  world-life.  Instead  of  bursting  forth  full- 
winged from  a cocoon,  both  China  and  Korea  must  be  incu- 
bated like  an  egg. 

It  is  worth  while  asking  whether  the  ultimate  results  of  a 
slow  and  laborious  process  like  this  may  not  in  the  end  bring 
forth  a product  superior  in  essential  respects  to  that  which  fol- 
lows the  almost  magical  rise  of  modern  Japan;  or,  to  carry 
out  the  metaphor,  whether  the  product  of  an  egg  is  not  likely 
to  be  of  greater  value  than  that  of  a cocoon.  In  order  to  a 
clear  understanding  of  the  situation  it  will  be  necessary  to  fol- 
low out  this  question  to  a definite  answer.  The  world  has  been 
held  entranced  by  the  splendid  military  and  naval  achievements 
of  Japan,  and  it  is  only  natural  that  her  signal  capacity  in  war 
should  have  argued  a like  capacity  along  all  lines.  This  has 
led  to  various  forms  of  exaggeration,  and  it  becomes  the  Ameri- 
can citizen  to  ask  the  question  just  what  part  Japan  is  likely  to 
play  in  the  development  of  the  Far  East.  One  must  study  the 
factors  of  the  problem  in  a judicial  spirit  if  he  would  arrive  at 
the  correct  answer.  The  bearing  which  this  has  upon  Korea 
will  appear  in  due  course. 

When  in  1868  the  power  of  the  Mikado  or  Emperor  of 
Japan  had  been  vindicated  in  a sanguinary  war  against  many 
of  the  feudal  barons,  the  Shogunate  was  done  away  with  once 
for  all,  and  the  act  of  centralising  the  government  of  Japan 
was  complete.  But  in  order  to  guard  against  insurrection  it 
was  deemed  wise  to  compel  all  the  barons  to  take  up  their  resi- 
dence in  Tokyo,  where  they  could  be  watched.  This  necessi- 
tated the  disbanding  of  the  samurai  or  retainers  of  the  barons. 
These  samurai  were  at  once  the  soldiers  and  the  scholars  of 
Japan.  In  one  hand  they  held  the  sword  and  in  the  other  a 
book;  not  as  in  medieval  Europe,  where  the  knights  could  but 
rarely  read  and  write  and  where  literature  was  almost  -^vliolly 
confined  to  the  monasteries.  This  concentration  of  physical  and 
intellectual  power  in  the  single  class  called  samurai  gave  them 


THE  PROBLEM 


5 


far  greater  prestige  among  the  people  at  large  than  was  ever 
enjoyed  by  any  set  of  men  in  any  other  land,  and  it  conse- 
quently caused  a wider  gulf  between  the  upper  and  lower  classes 
than  elsewhere,  for  the  samurai  shared  with  no  one  the  fear  and 
the  admiration  of  the  common  people.  The  lower  classes  cringed 
before  them  as  they  passed,  and  a samurai  could  wantonly  kill 
a man  of  low  degree  almost  without  fear  of  consequences. 

When  the  barons  were  called  up  to  Tokyo,  the  samurai  were 
disbanded  and  were  forbidden  to  wear  the  two  swords  which 
had  always  been  their  badge  of  office.  This  brought  them  face 
to  face  with  the  danger  of  falling  to  the  ranks  of  the  lower 
people,  a fate  that  was  all  the  more  terrible  because  of  the  absurd 
height  to  which  in  their  pride  they  had  elevated  themselves. 

At  this  precise  juncture  they  were  given  a glimpse  of  the 
West,  with  its  higher  civilisation  and  its  more  carefully  articu- 
lated system  of  political  and  social  life.  With  the  very  genius 
of  despair  they  grasped  the  fact  that  if  Japan  should  adopt  the 
system  of  the  West  all  government  positions,  whether  diplo- 
matic, consular,  constabulary,  financial,  educational  or  judicial, 
whether  military  or  civil,  would  naturally  fall  to  them,  and  thus 
they  would  he  saved  from  falling  to  the  plane  of  the  common 
people.  Here,  stripped  of  all  its  glamour  of  romance,  is  the 
vital  underlying  cause  of  Japan’s  wonderful  metamorphosis. 
With  a very  few  significant  exceptions  it  was  a purely  selfish 
movement,  conceived  in  the  interests  of  caste  distinction  and 
propagated  in  anything  but  an  altruistic  spirit.  The  central 
government  gladly  seconded  this  proposition,  for  it  immediately 
obviated  the  danger  of  constant  disaffection  and  rebellion  and 
welded  the  state  together  as  nothing  else  could  have  done.  The 
personal  fealty  which  the  samurai  had  reposed  in  his  overlord 
was  transferred,  almost  intact,  to  the  central  government,  and 
to-day  constitutes  a species  of  national  pride  which,  in  the 
absence  of  the  finer  quality,  constitutes  the  Japanese  form  of 
patriotism. 

From  that  day  to  this  the  wide  distinction  between  the  upper 


6 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


and  lower  classes  in  Japan  has  been  maintained.  In  spite  of 
the  fact  of  so-called  popular  or  representative  government,  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  class  distinctions  are  more  vitally  acti\e 
in  Japan  than  in  China,  and  there  is  a wider  social  gap  between 
them  than  anywhere  else  in  the  Far  East,  with  the  exception  of 
India,  where  Brahmanism  has  accentuated  caste.  The  reason 
for  this  lies  deep  in  the  Japanese  character.  Adieu  he  adopted 
A’estern  methods,  it  was  in  a purely  utilitarian  spirit.  He  gave 
no  thought  to  the  principles  on  which  our  civilisation  is  based. 
It  was  the  finished  product  he  was  after  and  not  the  process. 
He  judged,  and  rightly,  that  energy  and  determination  were 
sufficient  to  the  donning  of  the  habiliments  of  the  West,  and  he 
paid  no  attention  to  the  forces  by  which  those  habiliments  were 
shaped  and  fitted.  The  position  of  woman  has  experienced  no 
change  at  all  commensurate  with  Japan’s  material  transforma- 
tion. Religion  in  the  broadest  sense  is  less  in  evidence  than 
before  the  change,  for,  although  the  intellectual  stimulus  of 
the  A'est  has  freed  the  upper  classes  from  the  inanities  of  the 
Buddhistic  cult,  comparatiiely  few  of  them  ha\e  consented  to 
accept  the  substitute.  Christianity  has  made  smaller  advances 
in  Japan  than  in  Korea  herself,  and  eveiwthing  goes  to  prove 
that  Japan,  instead  of  digging  until  she  struck  the  spring  of 
A’estern  culture,  merely  built  a cistern  in  which  she  stored  up 
some  of  its  more  obvious  and  tangible  results.  This  is  shown 
in  the  impatience  with  which  many  of  the  best  Japanese  regard 
the  present  failure  to  amalgamate  the  borrowed  product  with 
the  real  underlying  genius  of  Japanese  life.  It  is  one  constant 
and  growing  incongruity.  And,  indeed,  if  we  look  at  it  ration- 
ally, would  it  not  be  a doubtful  compliment  to  A'estern  culture 
if  a nation  like  Japan  could  absorb  its  intrinsic  worth  and  enjoy 
its  essential  quality  without  passing  through  the  long-centuried 
struggle  through  which  we  ourselves  have  attained  to  it?  No 
more  can  we  enter  into  the  subtleties  of  an  Oriental  cult  by  a 
quick  though  intense  study  of  its  tenets.  The  self-conscious 
babblings  of  a Madam  Bla^'atsky  can  be  no  less  ludicrous  to 


THE  PROBLEM 


7 


an  Oriental  Pundit  than  are  the  efforts  of  Japan  to  vindicate 
her  claim  to  Western  culture  without  passing  through  the  fur- 
nace which  rriade  that  culture  sterling. 

The  highest  praise  must  be  accorded  to  the  earnestness  and 
devotion  of  Christian  missionaries  in  Japan,  but  it  is  a fact  deeply 
to  be  regretted  that  the  results  of  their  work  are  so  closely  con- 
fined to  the  upper  classes.  This  fact  throws  light  upon  the  state- 
ment that  there  is  a great  gap  between  the  upper  and  lower  classes 
there.  Even  as  we  are  writing,  word  comes  from  a keenly  observ- 
ant traveller  in  Japan  that  everywhere  the  Buddhist  temples 
are  undergoing  repairs. 

It  is  difficult  to  foresee  what  the  resultant  civilisation  of 
Japan  will  be.  There  is  nothing  final  as  yet,  nor  have  the  con- 
flicting forces  indicated  along  what  definite  lines  the  intense 
nationalism  of  the  Japanese  will  develop. 

But  let  us  look  at  the  other  side  of  the  picture.  Here  is 
China,  and  with  her  Korea,  for  they  are  essentially  one  in  gen- 
eral temper.  They  cling  with  intense  loyalty  to  the  past.  They 
are  thoroughly  conservative.  Now,  how  will  you  explain  it? 
Some  would  say  that  it  is  pure  obstinacy,  a wilful  blindness, 
an  intellectual  coma,  a moral  obsession.  This  is  the  easiest,  and 
superficially  the  most  logical,  explanation.  It  saves  time  and 
trouble;  and,  after  all,  what  does  it  matter?  It  matters  much 
every  way.  It  does  not  become  us  to  push  the  momentous 
question  aside  because  those  people  are  contemptible.  Four 
hundred  millions  are  saved  from  contempt  by  their  very  num- 
bers. There  is  an  explanation,  and  a rational  one. 

One  must  not  forget  that  these  people  are  possessed  of 
a social  system  that  has  been  worked  out  through  long  cen- 
turies, and  to  such  fine  issues  that  every  individual  has  his 
set  place  and  value.  The  system  is  comprehensive,  consistent 
and  homogeneous.  It  differs  widely  from  ours,  but  has  suf- 
ficed to  hold  those  peoples  together  and  give  them  a national 
life  of  wonderful  tenacity.  There  must  be  something  in 
the  system  fundamentally  good,  or  else  it  would  not  have  held 


8 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


together  for  all  these  centuries  with  comparatively  so  little 
modification. 

We  have  seen  how  the  Japanese  were  shaken  out  of  their 
long-centuried  sleep  by  a happy  combination  of  circumstances. 
There  are  doubtless  possible  combinations  which  might  similarly 
affect  China  and  Korea,  but  the  difference  in  temperament 
between  them  and  the  Japanese  renders  it  highly  improbable  that 
we  shall  ever  see  anything  so  spectacular  as  that  which  occurred 
in  Japan.  No  two  cults  were  ever  more  dissimilar  than  Con- 
fucianism and  Buddhism ; and  if  we  were  to  condense  into  a 
single  sentence  the  reason  why  China  and  Korea  can  never  follow 
Japan’s  example  it  would  be  this : that  the  Chinese  and  Korean 
temperament  followed  the  materialistic  bent  of  Confucianism, 
while  the  Japanese  followed  the  idealistic  bent  of  Buddhism. 

Now,  what  if  the  West,  instead  of  merely  lending  its  super- 
ficial integuments  to  China  and  Korea,  should  lea^■e  all  the 
harmless  and  inconsequential  customs  of  those  lands  intact,  and 
should  attempt  instead  to  reach  down  to  some  underlying  moral 
and  fundamental  principle  and  begin  a transformation  from 
within,  working  outward;  if,  instead  of  carrying  on  campaigns 
against  pinched  feet  and  infanticide,  we  should  strike  straight 
at  the  root  of  the  matter,  and  by  giving  them  the  secret  of 
Western  culture  make  it  possible  for  them  to  evolve  a new  civ- 
ilisation embodying  all  the  culture  of  the  \\'est,  but  expressed 
in  terms  of  Oriental  life  and  habit?  Here  would  be  an  achieve- 
ment to  be  proud  of,  for  it  would  prove  that  our  culture  is 
fundamental,  and  that  it  does  not  depend  for  its  vindication 
upon  the  mere  vestments  of  Western  life. 

And  herein  lies  the  pathos  of  Korea’s  position ; for,  lying 
as  she  does  in  the  grip  of  Japan,  she  cannot  gain  from  that 
power  more  than  that  power  is  capable  of  giving  — nothing 
more  than  the  garments  of  the  West.  She  may  learn  science 
and  industrial  arts,  but  she  will  use  them  only  as  a parrot  uses 
human  speech.  There  are  American  gentlemen  in  Korea  who 
could  lead  you  to  country  villages  in  that  land  where  the  fetich 


THE  PROBLEM 


9 


shrines  have  been  swept  away,  where  schools  and  churches  have 
been  built,  and  where  the  transforming  power  of  Christianity 
has  done  a fundamental  work  without  touching  a single  one 
of  the  time-honoured  customs  of  the  land;  where  hard-handed 
farmers  have  begun  in  the  only  genuine  way  to  develop  the 
culture  of  the  West.  That  culture  evinces  itself  in  its  ultimate 
forms  of  honesty,  sympathy,  unselfishness,  and  not  in  the  use 
of  a swallow-tail  coat  and  a silk  hat.  Which,  think  you,  is  the 
proper  way  to  go  about  the  rehabilitation  of  the  East?  The 
only  yellow  peril  possible  lies  in  the  arming  of  the  Orient  with 
the  thunder-bolts  of  the  West,  without  at  the  same  time  giving 
her  the  moral  forces  which  will  restrain  her  in  their  use. 

The  American  public  has  been  persistently  told  that  the 
Korean  people  are  a degenerate  and  contemptible  nation,  in- 
capable of  better  things,  intellectually  inferior,  and  better  off 
under  Japanese  rule  than  independent.  The  following  pages 
may  in  some  measure  answer  these  charges,  which  have  been 
put  forth  for  a specific  purpose,  — a purpose  that  came  to  full 
fruition  on  the  night  of  November  17,  1905,  when,  at  the  point  of 
the  sword,  Korea  was  forced  to  acquiesce  “ voluntarily  ” in  the 
virtual  destruction  of  dier  independence  once  for  all.  The  reader 
will  here  find  a narrative  of  the  course  of  events  which  led  up 
to  this  crisis,  and  the  part  that  different  powers,  including  the 
United  States,  played  in  the  tragedy. 


CHAPTER  I 


WHERE  AND  WHAT  KOREA  IS  ABOVE  AND 
BELOW  GROUND 

Near  the  eastern  coast  of  Asia,  at  the  forty-fourth 
parallel  of  latitude,  we  find  a whorl  of  mountains 
culminating  in  a peak  which  Koreans  call  White 
Head  iMountain.  From  this  centre  mountain  ranges 
radiate  in  three  directions,  one  of  them  going  southward  and 
forming  the  backbone  of  the  Korean  peninsula.  The  water- 
shed is  near  the  eastern  coast,  and  as  the  range  runs  southward 
it  gradually  diminishes  in  height  until  at  last  it  is  lost  in  the 
sea,  and  there,  with  its  base  in  the  water,  it  lifts  its  myriad 
heads  to  the  surface,  and  confers  upon  the  ruler  of  Korea  the 
deserved  title  of  “ King  of  Ten  Thousand  Islands.”  A very 
large  part  of  the  arable  land  of  Korea  lies  on  its  western  side; 
all  the  long  and  navigable  rivers  are  there  or  in  the  south ; 
almost  all  the  harbours  are  on  the  Yellow  Sea.  For  this  reason 
we  may  say  that  topographically  Korea  lies  with  her  face  toward 
China  and  her  back  toward  Japan.  This  has  had  much  to  do 
in  determining  the  history  of  the  country.  Through  all  the 
centuries  she  has  set  her  face  toward  the  west,  and  never  once, 
though  under  the  lash  of  foreign  invasion  and  threatened  ex- 
tinction, has  she  ever  swerved  from  her  allegiance  to  her  Chinese 
ideal.  Lacordaire  said  of  Ireland  that  she  has  remained  “ free 
by  the  soul.”  So  it  may  be  said  of  Korea,  that,  although  forced 
into  Japan's  arms,  she  has  remained  “ Chinese  by  the  soul.” 

The  climate  of  Korea  may  be  briefly  described  as  the  same 
as  that  of  the  eastern  part  of  the  United  States  between  ]^Iaine 
and  South  Carolina,  with  this  one  difference,  that  the  prevail- 
ing southeast  summer  wind  in  Korea  brings  the  moisture  from 


KOREA  ABOVE  AND  BELOW  GROUND 


II 


the  warm  ocean  current  that  strikes  Japan  from  the  south,  and 
precipitates  it  over  almost  the  whole  of  Korea;  so  that  there  is 
a distinct  “ rainy  season  ” during  most  of  the  months  of  July 
and  August.  This  rainy  season  also  has  played  an  important 
part  in  determining  Korean  history.  Unfortunately  for  navi- 
gation, the  western  side  of  the  peninsula,  where  most  of  the 
good  harbours  are  found,  is  visited  by  very  high  tides,  and 
the  rapid  currents  which  sweep  among  the  islands  make  this 
the  most  dangerous  portion  of  the  Yellow  Sea.  On  the  eastern 
coast  a cold  current  flows  down  from  the  north,  and  makes  both 
summer  and  winter  cooler  than  on  the  western  side. 

Though  the  surface  of  Korea  is  essentially  mountainous,  it 
resembles  Japan  very  little,  for  the  peninsula  lies  outside  the 
line  of  volcanoes  which  are  so  characteristic  of  the  island  empire. 
Many  of  the  Korean  mountains  are  evidently  extinct  volcanoes, 
■especially  White  Head  Mountain,  in  whose  extinct  crater  now 
lies  a lake.  Nor  does  Korea  suffer  at  all  from  earthquakes. 
The  only  remnants  of  volcanic  action  that  survive  are  the  occa- 
sional hot  springs.  The  peninsula  is  built  for  the  most  part 
■on  a granite  foundation,  and  the  bare  hill-tops,  which  appear 
-everywhere,  and  are  such  an  unwelcome  contrast  to  the  foliage- 
smothered  hills  of  Japan,  are  due  to  the  disintegration  of  the 
granite  and  the  erosion  of  the  water  during  the  rainy  season. 
But  there  is  much  besides  granite  in  Korea.  There  are  large 
sections  where  slate  prevails,  and  it  is  in  these  sections  that  the 
•coal  deposits  are  found,  both  anthracite  and  bituminous.  It  is 
affirmed  by  the  Korean  people  that  gold  is  found  in  every  one 
•of  the  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  prefectures  of  the  country. 
This  doubtless  is  an  exaggeration,  but  it  is  near  enough  the 
truth  to  indicate  that  Korea  is  essentially  a granite  formation, 
for  gold  is  found,  of  course,  only  in  connection  with  such  for- 
mation. Remarkably  beautiful  sandstones,  marbles  and  other 
building  stones  are  met  with  among  the  mountains;  and  one 
town  in  the  south  is  celebrated  for  its  production  of  rock  crystal, 
which  is  used  extensively  in  making  spectacle  lenses. 


12 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


The  scenery  of  Korea  as  witnessed  from  the  deck  of  a 
steamer  is  very  uninviting,  and  it  is  this  which  has  sent  so 
many  travellers  home  to  assert  that  this  country  is  a barren, 
treeless  waste.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  scarcity  of  timber 
along  most  of  the  beaten  highways  of  Korea  is  a certain 
blemish,  though  there  are  trees  in  moderate  number  everywhere ; 
but  this  very  absence  of  extensive  forests  gives  to  the  scenery 
a grandeur  and  repose  which  is  not  to  be  found  in  Japanese 
scenery.  ~The  lofty  crags  that  lift  their  heads  three  thousand 
feet  into  the  air  and  almost  overhang  the  city  of  Seoul  are 
alpine  in  their  grandeur.  There  is  always  distance,  openness, 
sweep  to  a Korean  view  which  is  quite  in  contrast  to  the  pic- 
turesque coziness  of  almost  all  Japanese  scenery.  This,  together 
with  the  crystal  atmosphere,  make  Korea,  even  after  only  a few 
years’  residence,  a delightful  reminiscence.  No  people  surpass 
the  Koreans  in  love  for  and  appreciation  of  beautiful  scenery. 
Their  literature  is  full  of  it.  Their  nature  poems  are  gems  in 
their  way.  Volumes  have  been  written  describing  the  beauties 
of  special  scenes,  and  Korea  possesses  a geography,  nearly  five 
hundred  years  old,  in  which  the  beauties  of  each  separate  pre- 
fecture are  described  in  minute  detail,  so  that  it  constitutes  a 
complete  historical  and  scenic  guide-book  of  the  entire  country. 

The  vegetable  life  of  Korea  is  like  that  of  other  parts  of 
the  temperate  zone,  but  there  is  a striking  preponderance  of  a 
certain  kind  of  pine,  the  most  graceful  of  its  tribe.  It  forms 
a conspicuous  element  in  every  scene.  The  founder  of  the 
dynasty  preceding  the  present  one  called  his  capital  Song-do, 
or  Pine  Tree  Capital.  It  is  a constant  theme  in  Korean  art, 
and  plays  an  important  part  in  legend  and  folk-lore  in  general. 
Being  an  evergreen,  it  symbolises  eternal  existence.  There  are 
ten  things  which  Koreans  call  the  chang  sajig  pul  sa,  or  “ long- 
lived  and  deathless.”  They  are  the  pine-tree,  tortoise,  rock, 
stag,  cloud,  sun,  moon,  stork,  water  and  a certain  moss  or 
lichen  named  “ the  ageless  plant.”  Pine  is  practically  the  only 
wood  used  in  building  either  houses,  boats,  bridges  or  any  other 


KOREA  ABOVE  AND  BELOW  GROUND 


13 


structure.  In  poetry  and  imaginative  prose  it  corresponds  to  the 
oak  of  Western  literature.  Next  in  importance  is  the  bamboo, 
which,  though  .growing  only  in  the  southern  provinces,  is  used 
throughout  the  land  and  in  almost  every  conceivable  way.  The 
domestic  life  of  the  Korean  would  be  thrown  into  dire  confu- 
sion were  the  bamboo  to  disappear.  Hats  are  commonly  made 
of  it,  and  it  enters  largely,  if  not  exclusively,  into  the  con- 
struction of  fans,  screens,  pens,  pipes,  tub-hoops,  flutes,  lanterns, 
kites,  bows  and  a hundred  other  articles  of  daily  use.  Take 
the  bamboo  out  of  Korean  pictorial  art  and  half  the  pictures  in 
the  land  would  be  ruined.  From  its  shape  it  is  the  symbol  of 
grace,  and  from  its  straightness  and  the  regular  occurrence  of 
its  nodes  it  is  the  symbol  of  faithfulness.  The  willow  is  one 
of  the  most  conspicuous  trees,  for  it  usually  grows  in  the  vicinity 
of  towns,  where  it  has  been  planted  by  the  hand  of  man.  Thus 
it  becomes  the  synonym  of  peace  and  contentment.  The  mighty 
row  of  willows  near  Pyeng-yang  in  the  north  is  believed  to 
have  been  planted  by  the  great  sage  and  coloniser  Kija  in 
1122  B.  c.,  his  purpose  being  to  influence  the  semi-savage  people 
by  this  object-lesson.  From  that  time  to  this  Pyeng-yang  has 
been  known  in  song  and  story  as  “ The  Willow  Capital.”  As 
the  pine  is  the  symbol  of  manly  vigour  and  strength,  so  the 
willow  is  the  synonym  of  womanly  beauty  and  grace.  Willow 
wood,  because  of  its  lightness,  is  used  largely  in  making  the 
clumsy  wooden  shoes  which  are  worn  exclusively  in  wet  weather ; 
and  chests  are  made  of  it  when  lightness  is  desirable.  The 
willow  sprays  are  used  in  making  baskets  of  all  kinds,  so  that 
this  tree  is,  in  many  Avays,  quite  indispensable.  Another  useful 
wood  is  called  the  paktal.  It  has  been  erroneously  called  the 
sandal-wood,  which  it  resembles  in  no  particular.  It  is  very 
like  the  iron-wood  of  America,  and  is  used  in  making  the 
laundering  clubs,  tool  handles,  and  other  utensils  which  require 
great  hardness  and  durability.  It  was  under  a paktal-tree  that 
the  fabled  sage  Tangun  was  found  seated  some  twenty-three 
hundred  years  before  Christ;  so  it  holds  a peculiar  place  in 


14 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


Korean  esteem.  As  the  pine  was  the  dynastic  symbol  of  Koryu, 
918-1392,  so  the  plum-tree  is  the  symbol  of  this  present  dynasty. 
It  was  chosen  because  the  Chinese  character  for  plum  is  the 
same  as  that  of  the  family  name  of  the  reigning  house.  It 
was  for  this  cogent  reason  that  the  last  king  of  the  Koryu 
dynasty  planted  plum-trees  on  the  prophetic  site  of  the  present 
capital,  and  then  destroyed  them  all,  hoping  thereby  to  blight 
the  prospects  of  the  Yi  family,  who,  prophecy  declared,  would 
become  masters  of  the  land. 

There  are  many  hard  woods  in  Korea  that  are  used  in  the 
arts  and  industries  of  the  people.  Oak,  ginko,  elm,  beech  and 
■other  species  are  found  in  considerable  numbers,  but  the  best 
■cabinet  woods  are  imported  from  China.  An  important  tree, 
found  mostly  in  the  southern  provinces,  is  the  paper-mulberry, 
bronssonctai  papyrifcra,  the  inner  bark  of  which  is  used  exclu- 
sively in  making  the  tough  paper  used  by  Koreans  in  almost 
every  branch  of  life.  It  is  celebrated  beyond  the  borders  of  the 
peninsula,  and  for  centuries  formed  an  important  item  in  the 
annual  tribute  to  China  and  in  the  official  exchange  of  goods 
with  Japan.  It  is  intrinsically  the  same  as  the  superb  Japanese 
paper,  though  of  late  years  the  Japanese  have  far  surpassed 
the  Koreans  in  its  manufacture.  The  cedar  is  not  uncommon 
in  the  country,  but  its  wood  is  used  almost  exclusively  for 
incense  in  the  Buddhist  monasteries.  Box-wood  is  used  for 
making  seals  and  in  the  finer  processes  of  the  xylographic  art, 
but  for  this  latter  purpose  pear-wood  is  most  commonly 
substituted. 

Korea  is  richly  endowed  with  fruits  of  almost  every  kind 
common  to  the  temperate  zone,  with  the  exception  of  the  apple. 
Persimmons  take  a leading  place,  for  this  is  the  one  fruit  that 
grows  to  greater  perfection  in  this  country  than  in  any  other 
place.  They  grow  to  the  size  of  an  ordinary  apple,  and  after 
the  frost  has  touched  them  they  are  a delicacy  that  might  be 
sought  for  in  vain  on  the  tables  of  royalty  in  the  YYst.  The 
apricot,  while  of  good  flavour,  is  smaller  than  the  European 


KOREA  ABOVE  AND  BELOW  GROUND  15 

ft 

■or  American  product.  The  peaches  are  of  a deep  red  colour 
throughout  and  are  of  good  size,  but  are  not  of  superior  quality. 
Plums  are  plentiful  and  of  fair  quality.  A sort  of  bush  cherry 
is  one  of  the  commonest  of  Korean  fruits,  but  it  is  not  grown 
Ey  grafting  and  is  inferior  in  every  way.  Jujubes,  pomegran- 
ates, crab-apples,  pears  and  grapes  are  common,  but  are  gen- 
erally insipid  to  Western  taste.  Foreign  apples,  grapes,  pears, 
peaches,  strawberries,  raspberries,  blackberries,  currants  and 
•other  garden  fruits  grow  to  perfection  in  this  soil.  As  for 
nuts,  the  principal  kinds  are  the  so-called  English  walnuts, 
•chestnuts  and  pine  nuts.  We  find  also  ginko  and  other  nuts, 
but  they  amount  to  very  little. 

The  question  of  cereals  is,  of  course,  of  prime  importance. 
The  Korean  people  passed  immediately  from  a savage  con- 
dition to  the  status  of  an  agricultural  community  without  the 
intervention  of  a pastoral  age.  They  have  never  known  any- 
thing about  the  uses  of  milk  or  any  of  its  important  products, 
excepting  as  medicine.  Even  the  primitive  legends  do  not  ante- 
date the  institution  of  agriculture  in  the  peninsula.  Rice  was 
first  introduced  from  China  in  1122  b.  c.,  but  millet  had  already 
been  grown  here  for  many  centuries.  Rice  forms  the  staple 
article  of  food  of  the  vast  majority  of  the  Korean  people.  In 
the  northern  and  eastern  provinces  the  proportion  of  other 
grains  is  more  considerable,  and  in  some  few  places  rice  is 
hardly  eaten  at  all ; but  the  fact  remains  that,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  certain  mountainous  districts  where  the  construction  of 
paddy-fields  is  out  of  the  question,  rice  is  the  main  article  of 
food  of  the  whole  nation.  The  history  of  the  introduction 
and  popularisation  of  this  cereal  and  the  stories  and  poems  that 
have  been  written  about  it  -would  make  a respectable  volume. 
The  Korean  language  has  almost  as  many  synonyms  for  it  as 
the  Arabic  has  for  horse.  It  means  more  to  him  than  roast 
beef  does  to  an  Englishman,  macaroni  to  an  Italian,  or  potatoes 
to  an  Irishman.  There  are  three  kinds  of  rice  in  Korea.  One 
is  grown  in  the  water,  another  in  ordinary  fields,  and  another 


i6  THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 

t 

still  on  the  sides  of  hills.  The  last  is  a smaller  and  harder 
variety,  and  is  much  used  in  stocking  military  granaries,  for  it 
will  last  eight  or  ten  years  without  spoiling.  The  great  enemies 
of  rice  are  drought,  flood,  worms,  locusts,  blight  and  wind. 
The  extreme  difficulty  of  keeping  paddy-fields  in  order  in  such 
a hilly  country,  the  absolute  necessity  of  having  rains  at  a par- 
ticular time  and  of  not  having  it  at  others,  the  great  labour  of 
transplanting  and  constant  cultivation,  — all  these  things  con- 
spire to  make  the  production  of  rice  an  incubus  upon  the  Korean 
people.  Ask  a Louisiana  rice-planter  how  he  would  like  to 
cultivate  the  cereal  in  West  Virginia,  and  you  will  discover 
what  it  means  in  Korea.  But  in  spite  of  all  the  difficulties, 
the  Korean  clings  to  his  favourite  dish,  and  out  of  a hundred 
men  who  have  saved  up  a little  money  ninety-nine  will  buy 
rice-fields  as  being  the  safest  investment.  Korean  poetry  teems 
with  allusions  to  this  seemingly  prosaic  cereal.  The  following 
is  a free  translation  of  a poem  referring  to  the  different  species 
of  rice: 

The  earth,  the  fresh  warm  earth,  by  heaven’s  decree, 

Was  measured  out,  mile  beyond  mile  afar; 

The  smiling  face  which  Chosun  first  upturned 
Toward  the  o’er-arching  sky  is  dimpled  still 
With  that  same  smile ; and  nature’s  kindly  law, 

In  its  unchangeability,  rebukes 

The  fickle  fashions  of  the  thing  called  Man. 

The  mountain  grain  retains  its  ancient  shape, 

Long-waisted,  hard  and  firm  ; the  rock-ribbed  hills. 

On  which  it  grows,  both  form  and  fibre  yield. 

The  lowland  grain  still  sucks  the  fatness  up 
From  the  rich  fen,  and  delves  for  gold  wherewith 
To  deck  itself  for  Autumn’s  carnival. 

Alas  for  that  rude  swain  who  nothing  recks 
Of  nature’s  law,  and  casts  his  seedling  grain 
Or  here  or  there  regardless  of  its  kind. 

For  him  the  teeming  furrow  gapes  in  vain 
And  dow'ers  his  granaries  with  emptiness. 

To  north  and  south  the  furrowed  mountains  stretch, 

A wolf  gigantic,  crouching  to  his  rest. 

To  east  and  west  the  streams,  like  serpents  lithe, 

Glide  down  to  seek  a home  beneath  the  sea. 


KOREA  ABOVE  AND  BELOW  GROUND  17 


The  South  — warm  mother  of  the  race  — pours  out 
Her  wealth  in  billowy  floods  of  grain.  The  North  — 

Stern  foster-mother  — yields  her  scanty  store 
By  hard  compulsion ; makes  her  children  pay 
For  bread  by  mintage  of  their  brawn  and  blood. 

Millet  is  the  most  ancient  form  of  food  known  in  Korea, 
and  it  still  forms  the  staple  in  most  places  where  rice  will  not 
grow.  There  are  many  varieties  of  millet,  all  of  which  flourish 
luxuriantly  in  every  province.  It  is  a supplementary  crop,  in 
that  it  takes  the  place  of  rice  when  there  is  a shortage  in  that 
cereal  owing  to  drought  or  other  cause.  Barley  is  of  great 
importance,  because  it  matures  the  earliest  in  the  season,  and  so 
helps  the  people  tide  over  a period  of  scarcity.  A dozen  vari- 
eties of  beans  are  produced,  some  of  which  are  eaten  in  con- 
nection with  rice,  and  others  are  fed  to  the  cattle.  Beans  form 
one  of  the  most  important  exports  of  the  country.  Wheat  is 
produced  in  considerable  quantities  in  the  northern  provinces. 
Sesamum,  sorghum,  oats,  buckwheat,  linseed,  corn  and  a few 
other  grains  are  found,  but  in  comparatively  small  quantities. 

As  rice  is  the  national  dish,  we  naturally  expect  to  find 
various  condiments  to  go  with  it.  Red-peppers  are  grown 
everywhere,  and  a heavy  kind  of  lettuce  is  used  in  making 
the  favourite  sauerkraut,  or  kimchi,  whose  proximity  is  detected 
without  the  aid  of  the  eye.  Turnips  are  eaten  raw  or  pickled. 
A kind  of  water-cress  called  minari  plays  a secondary  part 
among  the  side  dishes.  In  the  summer  the  people  revel  in 
melons  and  canteloupes,  which  they  eat  entire  or  imperfectly 
peeled,  and  even  the  presence  of  cholera  hardly  calls  a halt  to 
this  dangerous  indulgence.  Potatoes  have  long  been  known  to 
the  Koreans,  and  in  a few  mountain  sections  they  form  the 
staple  article  of  diet.  They  are  of  good  quality,  and  are  largely 
eaten  by  foreign  residents  in  the  peninsula.  Onions  and  garlic 
abound,  and  among  the  well-to-do  mushrooms  of  several  vari- 
eties are  eaten.  Dandelions,  spinach  and  a great  variety  of 
salads  help  the  rice  to  “ go  down.” 


i8 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


Korea  is  celebrated  throughout  the  East  for  its  medicinal 
plants,  among  which  ginseng,  of  course,  takes  the  leading  place. 
The  Chinese  consider  the  Korean  ginseng  far  superior  to  any 
other.  It  is  of  two  kinds,  — the  mountain  ginseng,  which  is  so 
rare  and  precious  that  the  finding  of  a single  root  once  in 
three  seasons  suffices  the  finder  for  a livelihood ; and  the  ordi- 
nary cultivated  variety,  which  differs  little  from  that  found  in 
the  woods  in  America.  The  difference  is  that  in  Korea  it  is 
carefully  cultivated  for  six  or  seven  years,  and  then  after  being 
g'athered  it  is  put  through  a steaming  process  which  gives  it 
a reddish  tinge.  This  makes  it  more  valuable  in  Chinese  esteem,, 
and  it  sells  readily  at  high  prices.  It  is  a government  monopoly, 
and  nets  something  like  three  hundred  thousand  yen  a year. 
Liquorice  root,  castor  beans  and  scores  of  other  plants  that 
figure  in  the  Western  pharmacopoeia  are  produced,  together 
with  many  that  the  Westerner  would  eschew. 

The  Koreans  are  great  loA-ers  of  flowers,  though  compara- 
ti’S'ely  few  have  the  means  to  indulge  this  taste.  In  the  spring 
the  hills  blush  red  with  rhododendrons  and  azaleas,  and  the 
ground  in  many  places  is  covered  with  a thick  mat  of  violets. 
The  latter  are  called  the  “ savage  flower,”  for  the  lobe  is  sup- 
posed to  resemble  the  Manchu  queue,  and  to  the  Korean  every 
Manchu  is  a savage.  The  wayside  bushes  are  festooned  with 
clematis  and  honeysuckle,  the  alternate  white  and  yellow  blossoms 
of  the  latter  giving  it  the  name  “ gold  and  silver  flower.”  The 
lily-of-the-valley  grows  riotously  in  the  mountain  dells,  and 
daffodils  and  anemones  abound.  The  commonest  garden  flower 
is  the  purple  iris,  and  many  official  compounds  ha^•e  ponds 
in  which  the  lotus  grows.  The  people  admire  branches  of 
peach,  plum,  apricot  or  crab-apple  as  yet  leafless  but  cov- 
ered with  pink  and  white  flowers.  The  pomegranate,  snow- 
ball, rose,  hydrangea,  chrysanthemum  and  many  varieties  of 
lily  figure  largely  among  the  favourites.  It  is  pathetic  to 
see  in  the  cramped  and  unutterably  filthy  quarters  of  the 
very  poor  an  effort  being  made  to  keep  at  least  one  plant 


THE  FAITHFUL  FUEL-CARRIERS  OF  KOREA 


I 


X I 

It 


I 


! 


i 


V; 


'!■ 


KOREA  ABOVE  AND  BELOW  GROUND 


19' 


alive.  There  is  hardly  a hut  in  Seoul  where  no  flower  is 
found. 

As  for  animal  life,  Korea  has  a generous  share.  The  mag- 
nificent bullocks  which  carry  the  heavy  loads,  draw  the  carts  and 
pull  the  ploughs  are  the  most  conspicuous.  It  is  singular  that 
the  Koreans  have  never  used  milk  or  any  of  its  products,  though 
the  cow  has  existed  in  the  peninsula  for  at  least  thirty-fi\'e 
hundred  years.  This  is  one  of  the  proofs  that  the  Koreans 
have  never  been  a nomadic  people.  Without  his  bullock  the 
farmer  would  be  all  at  sea.  No  other  animal  would  be  able  to 
drag  a plough  through  the  adhesive  mud  of  a paddy-field.  Great 
mortality  among  cattle,  due  to  pleuro-pneumonia,  not  infre- 
c[uently  becomes  the  main  cause  of  a famine.  There  are  nO' 
oxen  in  Korea.  Most  of  the  work  is  done  with  bullocks,  which 
are  governed  by  a ring  through  the  nose  and  are  seldom 
obstreperous.  Every  road  in  Korea  is  rendered  picturesque  by 
long  lines  of  bullocks  carrying  on  their  backs  huge  loads  of 
fuel  in  the  shape  of  grass,  fagots  of  wood  or  else  fat  bags- 
of  rice  and  barley.  As  might  be  expected,  cowhides  are  an. 
important  article  of  export. 

The  Korean  pony  is  unique,  at  least  in  Eastern  Asia.  It 
is  a little  larger  than  the  Shetland  pony,  but  is  less  heavily^ 
built.  Two  thousand  years  ago,  it  is  said,  men  could  ride  these 
animals  under  the  branches  of  the  fruit  trees  without  lowering 
the  head.  They  differ  widely  from  the  Manchu  or  Japanese 
horse,  and  appear  to  be  indigenous  — unless  we  may  believe  the 
legend  that  when  the  three  sages  arose  from  a fissure  in  the 
ground  in  the  island  of  Quelpart  three  thousand  years  ago, 
each  of  them  found  a chest  floating  in  from  the  south  and 
containing  a colt,  a calf,  a pig,  a dog  and  a wife.  The  pony 
is  not  used  in  ploughing  or  drawing  a cart,  for  it  is  not  heavy 
enough  for  such  work,  but  it  is  used  under  the  pack  and  under 
the  saddle,  frequently  under  both,  for  often  the  traveller  packs 
a huge  bundle  on  the  pony  and  then  seats  himself  on  top,  so- 
that  the  animal  forms  but  a vulgar  fraction  of  the  whole 


20 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


ensemble.  Foreigners  of  good  stature  frequently  have  to  raise 
the  feet  from  the  stirrup  when  riding  along  stony  roads.  Yet 
these  insignificant  beasts  are  tough  and  long-suffering,  and  will 
carry  more  than  half  their  own  weight  thirty-five  miles  a day, 
week  in  and  week  out. 

As  in  all  Eastern  countries,  the  pig  is  a ubiquitous  social 
factor.  We  use  the  word  “ social  ” advisedly,  for  in  country  vil- 
lages at  least  this  animal  is  always  visible,  and  frequently  under 
foot.  It  is  a small  black  breed,  and  is  so  poorly  fed  as  to  have 
practically  no  lateral  development,  but  resembles  the  “ razor- 
backs  ” of  the  mountain  districts  of  Tennessee.  Its  attenuated 
shape  is  typical  of  the  concentrated  character  of  its  porcine 
obstinacy,  as  evidenced  in  the  fact  that  the  shrewd  Korean 
farmer  prefers  to  tie  up  his  pig  and  carry  it  to  market  on 
his  own  back  rather  than  drive  it  on  foot. 

Korea  produces  no  sheep.  The  entire  absence  of  this  animal, 
except  as  imported  for  sacrificial  purposes,  confirms  the  suppo- 
sition that  the  Koreans  have  never  been  a pastoral  people. 
Foreigners  have  often  wondered  why  they  do  not  keep  sheep 
and  let  them  graze  on  the  uncultivable  hillsides  which  form 
such  a large  portion  of  the  area  of  the  country.  The  answer 
is  manifold.  Tigers,  wolves  and  bears  would  decimate  the 
flocks.  All  arable  land  is  used  for  growing  grain,  and  what 
grass  is  cut  is  all  consumed  as  fuel.  It  would  therefore  be 
impossible  to  winter  the  sheep.  Furthermore,  an  expert  sheep 
man,  after  examining  the  grasses  common  on  the  Korean  hill- 
sides, told  the  writer  that  sheep  could  not  eat  them.  The  turf 
about  grave  sites  and  a few  other  localities  would  make  good 
grazing  for  sheep,  but  it  would  be  quite  insufficient  to  feed  any 
considerable  number  even  in  summer. 

The  donkey  is  a luxury  in  Korea,  being  used  only  by  well- 
to-do  countrymen  in  travelling.  Its  bray  is  out  of  all  propor- 
tion to  its  size,  and  one  really  wonders  how  its  frame  survives 
the  wrench  of  that  fearful  blast. 

Reputable  language  is  hardly  adequate  to  the  description  of 


SHOEING  A BULL 


KOREA  ABOVE  AND  BELOW  GROUND 


21 


the  Korean  dog.  No  family  would  be  complete  without  one; 
but  its  bravery  varies  inversely  as  the  square  of  its  vermin, 
which  is  calculable  in  no  known  terms.  This  dog  is  a wolfish 
breed,  but  thoroughly  domesticated.  Almost  every  house  has 
a hole  in  the  front  door  for  his  accommodation.  He  will  lie 
just  inside,  with  his  head  protruding  from  the  orifice  and  his 
eyes  rolling  from  side  to  side  in  the  most  truculent  manner.  If 
he  happens  to  be  outside  and  you  point  your  finger  at  him, 
he  rushes  for  this  hole,  and  bolts  through  it  at  a pace  which 
seems  calculated  to  tear  off  all  the  hair  from  his  prominent 
angles.  Among  certain  of  the  poorer  classes  the  flesh  of  the 
dog  is  eaten,  and  we  have  in  mind  a certain  shop  in  Seoul 
where  the  purveying  of  this  delicacy  is  a specialty.  We  once 
shot  a dog  which  entertained  peculiar  notions  about  the  privacy 
of  our  back  yard.  The  gateman  disposed  of  the  remains  in  a 
mysterious  manner  and  then  retired  on  the  sick-list  for  a few 
days.  When  he  reappeared  at  last,  with  a weak  smile  on  his 
face  he  placed  his  hand  on  his  stomach  and  affirmed  with  evi- 
dent conviction  that  some  dogs  are  too  old  for  any  use.  But, 
on  the  whole,  the  Korean  dog  is  cleared  of  the  charge  of  use- 
lessness by  the  fact  that  he  acts  as  scavenger  in  general,  and 
really  does  much  to  keep  the  city  from  becoming  actually 
uninhabitable. 

The  cat  is  almost  exclusively  of  the  back-fence  variety,  and 
is  an  incorrigible  thief.  It  is  the  natural  prey  of  the  ubiquitous 
dog  and  the  small  boy.  Our  observation  leads  us  to  the  sad 
but  necessary  conclusion  that  old  age  stands  at  the  very  bottom 
of  the  list  of  causes  of  feline  mortality. 

So  much  for  domestic  animals.  Of  wild  beasts  the  tiger 
takes  the  lead.  The  general  notion  that  this  animal  is  found 
only  in  tropical  or  semi-tropical  countries  is  a mistake.  The 
colder  it  is  and  the  deeper  the  snow,  the  more  he  will  be  in  evi- 
dence in  Korea.  Country  villages  frequently  have  a tiger  trap 
of  logs  at  each  end  of  the  main  street,  and  in  the  winter  time 
these  are  baited  with  a live  animal,  — pig  for  choice.  The  tiger 


22 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


attains  a good  size,  and  its  hair  is  thick  and  long.  We  have  seen 
skins  eleven  and  a half  feet  long,  with  hair  two  inches  and  more 
in  length.  This  ugly  beast  will  pass  through  the  streets  of  a 
village  at  night  in  the  dead  of  winter,  and  the  people  are  fortu- 
nate if  he  does  not  break  in  a door  and  carry  away  a child.  No 
record  is  kept  of  the  mortality  from  this  cause,  but  it  is  probable 
that  a score  or  more  of  people  perish  annually  in  this  way. 
Legend  and  story  are  full  of  the  ravages  of  the  tiger.  He  is 
supposed  to  be  able  to  imitate  the  human  voice,  and  thus  lure 
people  out  of  their  houses  at  night.  Koreans  account  for  the 
fierceness  of  his  nature  by  saying  that  in  the  very  beginning  of 
things  the  Divine  Being  offered  a bear  and  a tiger  the  opportunity 
of  becoming  men  if  they  would  endure  certain  tests.  The  bear 
passed  the  examination  with  flying  colours,  but  the  tiger  suc- 
cumbed to  the  trial  of  patience,  and  so  went  forth  the  greatest 
enemy  of  man. 

Deer  are  common  throughout  the  land,  and  at  the  proper 
season  they  are  eagerly  sought  for  because  of  their  soft  horns, 
u hich  are  considered  of  great  medicinal  value.  Wealthy  Koreans 
who  are  ailing  often  go  among  the  mountains  with  the  hope  of 
being  in  at  the  death  of  a young  buck,  and  securing  a long 
draught  of  the  warm  blood,  which  they  look  upon  as  nearly 
equivalent  to  the  fountain  of  eternal  youth.  The  exercise  required 
for  this  is  in  itself  enough  to  make  an  ill  man  well,  so  the  fiction 
about  the  blood  is  not  only  innocent  but  valuable. 

The  bear  is  found  occasionally,  but  is  of  a small  breed  and 
does  comparatively  little  damage.  The  wild  boar  is  a formidable- 
animal,  and  is  considered  fully  as  dangerous  to  meet  as  the  tiger, 
because  it  will  charge  a supposed  enemy  at  sight.  We  have  seen 
specimens  weighing  well  toward  four  hundred  pounds  and  with 
formidable  tushes.  The  fox  is  found  in  every  town  and  district 
in  the  country.  It  is  the  most  detested  of  all  things.  It  is  the 
epitome  of  treachery,  meanness  and  sin.  The  land  is  full  of 
stories  of  evil  people  who  turned  out  to  be  foxes  in  the  disguise 
of  human  form.  And  of  all  foxes  the  white  one  is  the  worst, 


KOREA  ABOVE  AND  BELOW  GROUND 


23 


but  it  is  doubtful  whether  such  has  ever  been  seen  in  Korea.  Tra- 
dition has  no  more  opprobrious  epithet  than  “ fox.”  Even  the 
tiger  is  less  dangerous,  because  less  crafty.  The  wolf  is  com- 
paratively little  known,  but  occasionally  news  comes  from  some 
distant  town  that  a child  has  been  snatched  away  by  a wolf. 
The  leopard  is  another  supposedly  tropical  animal  that  flour- 
ishes in  this  country.  Its  skin  is  more  largely  used  than  that 
of  the  tiger,  but  only  officials  of  high  rank  are  allowed  the 
luxury. 

Among  lesser  animals  are  found  the  badger,  hedgehog, 
squirrel,  wildcat,  otter,  weasel  and  sable.  The  last  is  highly 
prized  for  its  skin,  but  it  is  of  poorer  quality  than  that  of  the 
Siberian  sable.  At  the  same  time  many  handsome  specimens 
haA'e  been  picked  up  here.  The  Koreans  value  most  highly  the 
small  spot  of  yellow  or  saffron  that  is  found  under  the  throat 
of  the  sable.  We  have  seen  whole  garments  made  of  an  almost 
countless  number  of  such  pieces.  Naturally  it  takes  a small  for- 
tune to  acquire  one  of  them. 

For  its  bird  life,  especially  game  birds,  Korea  is  deservedly 
famous.  First  comes  the  huge  bustard,  which  stands  about  four 
feet  high  and  weighs,  when  dressed,  from  twenty  to  thirty 
pounds.  It  is  much  like  the  wild  turkey,  but  is  larger  and  gamier. 
The  beautiful  Mongolian  pheasant  is  found  everywhere  in  the 
country,  and  in  winter  it  is  so  common  in  the  market  that  it 
brings  only  half  the  price  of  a hen.  Within  an  hour  of  Seoul 
one  can  find  excellent  pheasant  shooting  at  the  proper  season. 
Ducks  of  a dozen  varieties,  geese,  swan  and  other  aquatic  birds 
abound  in  such  numbers  that  one  feels  as  if  he  were  taxing  the 
credulity  of  the  reader  in  describing  them.  In  the  winter  of  1891 
the  ducks  migrated  apparently  in  one  immense  flock.  Their 
approach  sounded  like  the  coming  of  a cyclone,  and  as  they 
passed,  the  sky  was  completely  shut  out  from  view.  It  would 
have  been  impossible  to  get  a rifle  bullet  between  them.  They 
do  not  often  migrate  this  way,  but  flocks  of  them  can  be  seen  in 
all  directions  at  almost  any  time  of  day  during  the  season.  Even 


24 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


as  we  write,  information  comes  that  a party  of  three  men 
returned  from  two  days’  shooting  with  five  hundred  and  sixty 
pounds  of  birds.  Quail,  snipe  and  other  small  birds  are  found 
in  large  quantities,  but  the  hunter  scorns  them  in  view  of  the 
larger  game.  Various  kinds  of  storks,  cranes  and  herons  find 
abundance  of  food  in  the  flooded  paddy-fields,  where  no  one 
thinks  of  disturbing  them.  One  of  the  sights  of  Seoul  is  its  airy 
scavengers,  the  hawks,  who  may  be  seen  sometimes  by  the  score 
sailing  about  over  the  town.  Now  and  again  one  of  them  will 
sweep  down  and  seize  a piece  of  meat  from  a bowl  that  a woman 
is  carrying  home  on  her  head.  It  is  not  uncommon  to  see  small 
boys  throwing  dead  mice  into  the  air  to  see  the  hawks  swoop 
down  and  seize  them  before  they  reach  the  ground. 

Korea  contains  plenty  of  snakes,  but  none  of  them  are  spe- 
cially venomous,  although  there  are  some  whose  bite  will  cause 
considerable  irritation.  Many  snakes  live  among  the  tiles  of 
the  roofs,  where  they  subsist  on  the  sparrows  that  make  their 
nests  under  the  eaves.  These  snakes  are  harmless  fellows,  and 
when  you  see  one  hanging  down  over  your  front  door  in  the 
dusk  of  evening  it  should  cause  no  alarm.  The  people  say,  and 
believe  it  too,  that  if  a snake  lives  a thousand  years  it  assumes 
a short  and  thick  shape  and  acquires  wings,  with  which  it  flies 
about  with  inconceivable  rapidity,  and  is  deadly  not  only  because 
of  its  bite,  but  if  a person  even  feels  the  wind  caused  by  its  light- 
ning flash  as  it  speeds  by  he  will  instantly  die.  Formerhq 
according  to  Korean  tradition,  there  were  no  snakes  in  Korea; 
but  when  the  wicked  ruler  Prince  Yunsan  (1495-1506)  had 
worn  himself  out  with  a life  of  excesses,  he  desired  to  try  the 
effect  of  keeping  a nest  of  snakes  under  his  bed,  for  he  had  heard 
that  this  would  restore  lost  vitality.  So  he  sent  a boat  to  India, 
and  secured  a cargo  of  selected  ophidians,  and  had  them  brought 
to  Korea.  The  cargo  was  unloaded  at  Asan;  but  it  appears 
that  the  stevedores  had  not  been  accustomed  to  handle  this  kind 
of  freight,  and  so  a part  of  the  reptiles  made  their  escape  into 
the  woods.  From  that  time,  so  goes  the  tale,  snakes  have  existed 


KOREA  ABOVE  AND  BELOW  GROUND  25 


here  as  elsewhere.  Unfortunately  no  one  has  ever  made  a study 
of  serpent  worship  in  Korea,  but  there  appears  to  be  some  reason 
to  believe  that  there  was  once  such  a cult.  The  Koreans  still 
speak  of  the  op-kuregi,  or  “ Good  Fortune  Serpent  ” ; and  as 
most  of  the  natives  have  little  other  religion  than  that  of  praying 
to  all  kinds  of  spirits  for  good  luck,  it  can  hardly  be  doubted  that 
the  worship  of  the  serpent  in  some  form  has  existed  in  Korea. 

Though  there  are  no  deadly  snakes  in  the  country,  there  are 
insects  that  annually  cause  considerable  loss  of  life.  The  centi- 
pede attains  a growth  of  six  or  seven  inches,  and  a bite  from  one 
of  them  may  prove  fatal,  if  not  attended  to  at  once.  The  Koreans 
cut  up  centipedes  and  make  a deadly  drink,  which  they  use,  as 
hemlock  was  used  in  Greece,  for  executing  criminals.  This  has 
now  gone  out  of  practice,  however,  thanks  to  the  enlightening 
contact  with  Westerners,  who  simply  choke  a man  to  death  with 
a rope ! Among  the  mountains  it  is  said  that  a poisonous  spider 
is  found ; but  until  this  is  verified  we  dare  not  vouch  for  it. 

The  tortoise  plays  an  important  part  in  Korean  legend  and 
story.  He  represents  to  the  Korean  mind  the  principle  of  healthy 
conservatism.  He  is  never  in  a hurry,  and  perhaps  this  is  why 
the  Koreans  look  upon  him  with  such  respect,  if  not  affection. 
All  animals  in  Korea  are  classed  as  good  or  bad.  We  have 
already  said  that  the  fox  is  the  worst.  The  tiger,  boar,  frog  and 
mouse  follow.  These  are  all  bad ; but  the  bear,  deer,  tortoise, 
cow  and  rabbit  are  all  good  animals. 

More  important  than  all  these,  except  cattle,  are  the  fish  of 
Korea.  The  waters  about  the  peninsula  swarm  with  fish  of  a 
hundred  kinds.  They  are  all  eaten  by  the  people,  even  the  sharks 
and  the  octopi.  The  commonest  is  the  ling,  which  is  caught  in 
enormous  numbers  off  the  east  coast,  and  sent  all  over  the  country 
in  the  dried  form.  Various  kinds  of  clams,  oysters  and  shrimps 
are  common.  Whales  are  so  numerous  off  the  eastern  coast  that 
a flourishing  Japanese  company  has  been  employed  in  catching 
them  of  late  years.  Pearl  oysters  are  found  in  large  numbers 
along  the  southern  coast,  and  the  pearls  would  be  of  considerable 


26 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


value  if  the  Koreans  knew  how  to  abstract  them  from  the  shells 
in  a proper  manner. 

But  fish  and  pearls  are  not  the  only  sea-products  that  the 
Korean  utilises.  Enormous  quantities  of  edible  seaweed  are 
gathered,  and  the  sea-slug,  or  beche-de-mer,  is  a particular  deli- 
cacy. The  Koreans  make  no  use  of  those  bizarre  dishes  for 
which  the  Chinese  are  so  noted,  such  as  birds’  nests  and  the  like. 
Their  only  prandial  eccentricity  is  boiled  dog,  and  that  is  strictly 
confined  to  the  lowest  classes. 


CHAPTER  II 


THE  PEOPLE 

The  study  of  the  origin  and  the  ethnological  affinities 
of  the  Korean  people  is  yet  in  its  infancy.  Not  until 
a close  and  exhaustive  investigation  has  been  made 
of  the  monuments,  the  folk-lore,  the  language  and 
all  the  other  sources  of  information  can  anything  be  said  defi- 
nitely upon  this  question.  It  will  be  in  place,  therefore,  to 
give  here  the  tentative  results  already  arrived  at,  but  without 
dogmatising. 

Oppert  was  the  first  to  note  that  in  Korea  there  are  two  types 
of  face,  — the  one  distinctly  Mongolian,  and  the  other  lacking 
many  of  the  Mongolian  features  and  tending  rather  to  the  Malay 
type.  To  the  new-comer  all  Koreans  look  alike;  but  long  resi- 
dence among  them  brings  out  the  individual  peculiarities,  and 
one  comes  to  recognise  that  there  are  as  many  kinds  of  face  here 
as  in  the  West.  Dr.  Baelz,  one  of  the  closest  students  of  Far 
Eastern  physiognomy,  recognises  the  dual  nature  of  the  Korean 
type,  and  finds  in  it  a remarkable  resemblance  to  a similar  feature 
of  the  Japanese,  among  whom  we  learn  that  there  is  a certain 
class,  probably  descendants  of  the  ancient  Yamato  race,  which 
has  preserved  to  a great  extent  the  same  non-Mongolian  cast  of 
features.  This  seems  to  have  been  overlaid  at  some  later  time 
by  a Polynesian  stock.  The  ethnological  relation  between  the 
non-Mongolian  type  in  Korea  and  the  similar  type  in  Japan  is 
one  of  the  most  interesting  racial  problems  of  the  Far  East. 
I feel  sure  that  it  is  the  infusion  of  this  type  into  Korea  and  Japan 
that  has  differentiated  these  peoples  so  thoroughly  from  the 
Chinese. 

Five  centuries  before  Christ,  northern  Korea  and  southern 


28 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


Korea  were  very  clearly  separated.  The  Kija  dynasty  in  the 
north  had  consolidated  the  people  into  a more  or  less  homo- 
geneous state,  but  this  kingdom  never  extended  south  further 
than  the  Han  River.  At  this  time  the  southern  coast  of  the 
peninsula  was  peopled  by  a race  differing  in  essential  particulars 
from  those  of  the  north.  Their  language,  social  system,  govern- 
ment, customs,  money,  ornaments,  traditions  and  religion  were 
all  quite  distinct  from  those  of  the  north.  Ever^qhing  points 
to  the  belief  that  they  were  maritime  settlers  or  colonists,  and 
that  they  had  come  to  the  shores  of  Korea  from  the  south. 

The  French  missionaries  in  Korea  were  the  first  to  note  a 
curious  similarity  between  the  Korean  language  and  the  lan- 
guages of  the  Dravidian  peoples  of  southern  India.  It  is  well 
established  that  India  was  formerly  inhabited  by  a race  closely 
allied  to  the  Turanian  peoples,  and  that  when  the  Ary-an  con- 
querors swept  over  India  the  earlier  tribes  were  either  driven  in 
flight  across  into  Burmah  and  the  IMalay  Peninsula,  or  were 
forced  to  find  safety  among  the  mountains  in  the  Deccan.  From 
the  Malay  Peninsula  we  may  imagine  them  spreading  in  various 
directions.  Some  went  north  along  the  coast,  others  into  the 
Philippine  Islands,  then  to  Formosa,  where  IMr.  Davidson,  the 
best  authority,  declares  that  the  Malay  type  prevails.  The  power- 
ful “ Black  Current,”  the  Gulf  Stream  of  the  Pacific,  naturally 
swept  northward  those  who  were  shipwrecked.  The  Liu-Kiu 
Islands  were  occupied,  and  the  last  wave  of  this  great  dispersion 
broke  on  the  southern  shores  of  Japan  and  Korea,  leaving  there 
the  nucleus  of  those  peoples  who  resemble  each  other  so  that  if 
dressed  alike  they  cannot  be  distinguished  as  Japanese  or  Korean 
even  by  an  expert.  The  small  amount  of  work  that  has  been 
so  far  done  indicates  a striking  resemblance  between  these  south- 
ern Koreans  and  the  natives  of  Formosa,  and  the  careful  com- 
parison of  the  Korean  language  with  that  of  the  Dravidian 
peoples  of  southern  India  reveals  such  a remarkable  similarity, 
phonetic,  etymologic,  and  syntactic,  that  one  is  forced  to  recognise 
in  it  something  more  than  mere  coincidence.  The  endings  of 


4*«!f 


AMERICAN  BRIDGE  ACROSS  THE  HAN 


THE  PEOPLE 


29 


many  of  the  names  of  the  ancient  colonies  in  southern  Korea  are 
the  exact  counterpart  of  Dravidian  words  meaning  “ settlement  ” 
or  “ town.”  The  endings  -caster  and  -coin  in  English  are  no 
more  evidently  from  the  Latin  than  these  endings  in  Korea  are 
from  the  Dravidian. 

The  early  southern  Koreans  were  wont  to  tattoo  their  bodies. 
The  custom  has  died  out,  since  the  more  rigorous  climate  of  the 
peninsula  compels  the  use  of  clothing  covering  the  whole  body. 
The  description  of  the  physiological  features  of  those  Dravidian 
tribes  which  have  suffered  the  least  from  intermixture  with  others 
coincides  in  every  particular  with  the  features  of  the  Korean. 
Of  course  it  is  impossible  to  go  into  the  argument  in  extenso 
here ; but  the  most  reasonable  conclusion  to  be  arrived  at  to-day 
is  that  the  peninsula  of  Korea  is  inhabited  by  two  branches 
of  the  same  original  family,  a part  of  which  came  around 
China  by  way  of  the  north,  and  the  other  part  by  way  of  the 
south. 

As  we  see  in  the  historical  review  given  elsewhere  in  these 
pages,  the  southern  kingdom  of  Silla  was  the  first  to  obtain 
control  of  the  entire  peninsula  and  impose  her  laws  and  language, 
and  it  is  for  this  reason  that  the  language  to-day  reflects  much 
more  of  the  southern  stock  than  of  the  northern.^ 

C H ARACTERISTICS 

In  discussing  the  temperament  and  the  mental  characteristics 
of  the  Korean  people,  it  will  be  necessary  to  begin  with  the  trite 
saying  that  human  nature  is  the  same  the  world  over.  The  new- 
comer to  a strange  country  like  this,  where  he  sees  so  many 
curious  and,  to  him,  outlandish  things,  feels  that  the  people  are 
in  some  way  essentially  different  from  himself,  that  they  suffer 
from  some  radical  lack;  but  if  he  were  to  stay  long  enough  to 
learn  the  language,  and  get  behind  the  mask  which  hides  the 

1 A full  description  of  the  linguistic  affinities  of  Korean  to  the  Dravidian  dia- 
lects will  be  found  in  the  author’s  Comparative  Grammar  of  Korean  and  Dravidian. 


30 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


■genuine  Korean  from  his  mental  view,  he  would  find  that  the 
Korean  might  say  after  old  Shylock,  “ I am  a Korean.  Hath 
^ not  a Korean  eyes  ? Hath  not  a Korean  hands,  organs,  dimen- 
. sions,  senses,  affections,  passions?  fed  with  the  same  food,  hurt 
' with  the  same  weapons?  subject  to  the  same  diseases?  healed 
with  the  same  means?  warmed  and  cooled  by  the  same  summer 
and  winter  as  the  Westerner  is  ? If  you  prick  us,  do  we  not  bleed  ? 
If  you  tickle  us,  do  we  not  laugh?  If  you  poison  us,  do  we  not 
“die?  And  if  you  wrong  us,  shall  we  not  be  revenged?  ” In  other 
words,  he  will  find  that  the  differences  between  the  Oriental  and 
the  Occidental  are  wholly  superficial,  the  outcome  of  training  and 
I environment,  and  not  of  radical  dissimilarity  of  temperament. 
But  there  is  this  to  be  said : it  is  far  easier  to  get  close  to  a 
Korean  and  to  arrive  at  his  point  of  view  than  to  get  close  to 
a Japanese  or  a Chinese.  Somehow  or  other  there  seems  to  be 
a greater  temperamental  difference  between  the  Japanese  or 
Chinese  and  the  Westerner  than  between  the  Korean  and  the 
Westerner.  I believe  the  reason  for  this  lies  in  the  fact  of  the 
different  balance  of  temperamental  qualities  in  these  dift'erent 
peoples.  The  Japanese  are  a people  of  sanguine  temperament. 
They  are  quick,  versatile,  idealistic,  and  their  temperamental 
sprightliness  approaches  the  verge  of  volatility.  This  quality 
stood  them  in  good  stead  when  the  opportunity  came  for  them 
to  make  the  great  volte  face  in  1868.  It  was  a happy  leap  in 
the  dark.  In  the  very  same  way  the  Japanese  often  embarks  upon 
business  enterprises,  utterly  sanguine  of  success,  but  without 
forecasting  what  he  will  do  in  case  of  disaster.  The  Chinese, 
on  the  other  hand,  while  very  superstitious,  is  comparatively 
phlegmatic.  He  sees  no  rainbows  and  pursues  no  ignes  fatui. 
He  has  none  of  the  martial  spirit  which  impels  the  Japanese  to 
deeds  of  patriotic  daring.  But  he  is  the  best  business  man  in  the 
world.  He  is  careful,  patient,  persevering,  and  content  with 
small  but  steady  gains.  No  one  knows  better  than  he  the  ultimate 
evil  results  of  breaking  a contract.  Without  laying  too  much 
emphasis  upon  these  opposite  tendencies  in  the  Japanese  and 


THE  PEOPLE 


31 


Chinese,  we  may  say  that  the  former  lean  toward  the  idealistic, 
while  the  latter  lean  toward  the  utilitarian.  The  temperament 
■of  the  Korean  lies  midway  between  the  two,  even  as  his  country 
lies  between  Japan  and  China.  This  combination  of  qualities 
makes  the  Korean  rationally  idealistic.  Those  who  have  seen 
the  Korean  only  superficially,  and  who  mark  his  unthrifty  habits, 
his  happy-go-lucky  methods,  his  narrowness  of  mind,  will  think 
my  characterisation  of  him  flattering;  but  those  who  have  gone 
to  the  bottom  of  the  Korean  character,  and  are  able  to  distin- 
guish the  true  Korean  from  some  of  the  caricatures  which  have 
been  drawn  of  him,  will  agree  that  there  is  in  him  a most  happy 
combination  of  rationality  and  emotionalism.  And  more  than 
thi§7  L~would'suKmir  that  it  is  the  same  combination  that  has 
made  the  Anglo-Saxon  what  he  is.  He  is  at  once  cool-headed 
and  hot-headed.  He  can  reason  calmly  and  act  at  white  heat. 
It  is  this  welding  of  two  different  but  not  contrary  characteris- 
tics that  makes  the  power  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  peoples.  It  will 
be  necessary  to  show,  therefore,  why  it  is  that  Korea  has  done 
so  little  to  justify  the  right  to  claim  such  exceptional  qualities. 
But  before  doing  this,  I would  adduce  a few  facts  to  show  on 
what  my  claim  is  based. 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  the  experience  of  those  who  have  had 
to  do  with  the  various  peoples  of  the  Far  East  that  it  is  easier 
to  understand  the  Korean  and  get  close  to  him  than  it  is  to 
understand  either  the  Japanese  or  the  Chinese!  He  isTnuclTmOTe 
like  ourselves.  You  lose  the  sense  oT3rfferen’cE\^ery  readily,  and 
forget  that  he  is  a Korean  and  not  a member  of  your  own  race. 
This  in  itself  is  a strong  argument;  for  it  would  not  be  so  if 
there  were  not  some  close  intellectual,  or  moral,  or  tempera- 
mental bond  of  sympathy.  The  second  argument  is  a religious 
one.  The  religions  of  China  were  forced  upon  Korea  irrespective 
of  her  needs  or  desires.  Confucianism,  while  appai'ently  satis- 
factory to  a man  utterly  devoid  of  imagination  (a  necessary 
instrument  to  be  used  in  the  work  of  unifying  great  masses  of 
population,  by  anchoring  them  to  the  dead  bones  of  their  ances- 


32 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


tors),  can  be  nothing  less  than  contemptible  to  a man  possessed 
of  actual  humour.  Two  things  have  preserved  the  uniform  politi- 
cal solidarity  of  the  Chinese  Empire  for  the  last  three  thousand 
years,  — the  sacred  ideograph  and  the  ancestral  grave.  But 
Confucianism  is  no  religion;  it  is  simply  patriarchal  law.  That 
law,  like  all  other  civil  codes,  received  its  birth  and  nutriment 
from  the  body  politic  of  China  by  natural  generation.  But  the 
Korean  belongs  to  a different  intellectual  and  temperamental 
species,  and  thus  the  law  which  was  bone  of  China’s  bone  and 
flesh  of  her  flesh  was  less  than  a foster-child  to  Korea.  Its 
entire  lack  of  the  mystical  element  renders  it  quite  incapable  of 
satisfying  the  religious  cravings  of  such  a people  as  the  Koreans. 
Buddhism  stands  at  the  opposite  pole  from  Confucianism.  It  is 
the  most  jny.stical,of  all  cuhs  otrtH-deflh^nHrgtoH-^af -the  Xazarene. 
This  is  why  it  has  become  so  strongly  intrenched  in  Japan.  \Miile 
Confucianism  leaves  nothing  to  the  imagination.  Buddhism 
leaves  everything.  The  idealism  of  the  Japanese  surrendered  to 
it.  and  we  may  well  believe  that  when  Buddhism  is  driven  to  bay 
it  will  not  be  at  Lhasa,  the  home  of  the  Lamas,  but  at  Xara  or 
at  Nikko.  Llere  again  that  rational  side  of  the  Korean  tempera- 
ment came  in  play.  While  Confucianism  contained  too  little 
mysticism  for  him.  Buddhism  contained  too  much ; and  so,  while 
nominally  accepting  both,  he  made  neither  of  them  a part  of 
himself. 

It  is  said  that  when  a company  of  Tartar  horsemen  capture 
one  of  the  enemy  they  bury  him  to  the  neck  in  the  earth,  pack  the 
dirt  firmly  about  him  so  that  he  can  move  neither  hand  nor  foot, 
place  a bowl  of  water  and  a bowl  of  food  just  before  his  face, 
and  leave  him  to  die  of  hunger,  thirst  or  sunstroke,  or  to  be 
torn  by  wolves.  This  is  the  way,  metaphorically,  in  which  Korea 
was  treated  to  religions.  Both  kinds  were  placed  before  her  ver}’' 
face,  but  she  could  partake  of  neither.  The  sequel  is  important. 
The  Christian  religion  was  introduced  into  Korea  by  the  Roman 
Catholics  about  a century  ago,  and  by  Protestants  two  decades 
ago.  The  former  made  considerable  ad^'ance  in  spite  of  terrible 


THE  PEOPLE 


33 


persecution,  but  their  rate  of  advance  was  slow  compared  with 
what  has  been  done  by  the  Protestant  missionaries.  I make  bold 
to  say  that  the  Christian  religion,  shorn  of  all  trappings  and 
embellishments  of  man's  making,  appeals  perfectly  to  the  ration- 
ally emotional  temperament  of  the  Korean.  And  it  is  to  some 
extent  this  perfect  adaptability  which  has  won  for  Christianity 
such  a speedy  and  enthusiastic  hearing  in  this  country.  Chris- 
tianity is  at  once  the  most  rational  and  the  most  mystical  of  reli- 
gions, and  as  such  is  best  fitted,  humanly  speaking,  to  appeal  to 
this  people.  This,  of  course,  Avithout  derogation  from  its  uni- 
versal claims.  One  has  but  to  consult  the  records  of  modern 
missions  to  see  what  a wonderful  Avork  has  been  done  in  this 
land  by  men  Avho  are  presumably  no  more  and  no  less  devoted 
than  those  at  work  in  other  fields. 

Being  possessed,  then,  of  a temperament  closely  allied  to  that 
of  the  Anglo-Saxon,  what  has  caused  the  present  state  of  intel- 
lectual and  moral  stagnation?  Why  is  it  that  most  people  look 
upon  the  Korean  as  little  better  than  contemptible  ? It  is  because 
in  the  sixth  and  seventh  centuries,  Avhen  Korea  Avas  in  her  forma- 
tive stage,  when  she  was  just  ready  to  enter  upon  a career  of  inde- 
pendent thought  and  achievement,  the  ponderous  load  of  Chinese 
civilisation  was  laid  upon  her  like  an  incubus.  She  kncAV  no 
better  than  to  accept  these  Chinese  ideals,  deeming  in  her  igno- 
rance that  this  Avould  be  better  than  to  evolve  ideals  of  her  OAvn. 
From  that  time  to  this  she  has  been  the  slaA'e  of  Chinese  thought. 
Slie^lost  all  spontaneity  and  originality.  To  imitate  became  her 
highest  ambition,  and  she  lost  sight  of  all  beyond  this  contracted 
horizon.  Intrinsically  and  potentially  the  Korean  is  a man  of 
high  intellectual  possibilities,  but  he  is,  supeiTcially,  what  he  is 
by  virtue  of  his  training  and  education.  Take  him  out  of  this 
environment,  and  give  him  a chance  to  deA^elop  independently 
and  naturally,  and  you  Avould  have  as  good  a brain  as  the  Far 
East  has  to  offer. 

Korea  is  a good  illustration  of  the  great  influence  Avhich 
environment  exerts  upon  a people’s  mental  and  moral  character- 


34 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


istics.  I am  not  sure  that  the  conservatism  of  either  the  Korean; 
or  the  Chinese  is  a natural  characteristic.  The  population  of 
China  is  so  vast  and  so  crowded,  social  usages  have  become  so- 
stereotyped,  the  struggle  for  bare  existence  is  so  keen,  that  the 
slightest  disturbance  in  the  running  of  the  social  machine  is  sure 
to  plunge  thousands  into  immediate  destitution  and  despair.  At 
this  point  lies  the  enormous  difficulty  of  reforming  that  country. 
It  is  like  a huge  machine,  indescribably  complicated,  and  so  deli- 
cately adjusted  that  the  variation  of  a hair’s-breadth  in  any  part 
will  bring  the  whole  thing  to  a standstill.  Let  me  illustrate. 
There  are  a great  many  foreigners  in  China  who  are  trying  to 
evoh'e  a phonetic  system  of  writing  for  that  country.  It  is 
a most  laudable  undertaking;  but  the  system  which  has  received 
most  approbation  is  one  in  which  our  Roman  letters  are  used 
to  indicate  the  various  sounds  of  that  language.  But  these  letters 
are  made  by  the  use  of  straight  and  curved  lines,  the  latter  being 
almosc  exclusively  used  in  ordinary  writing.  Now  we  know 
that  over  two  thousand  years  ago  the  Chinese  discarded  a system 
based  upon  curved  lines,  because  it  was  found  impossible  to  make 
them  readily  with  the  brush  pen.  universally  used  throughout 
the  Far  East.  The  introduction  of  a system  containing  a large 
proportion  of  curved  lines  implies,  therefore,  that  the  brush  pen 
will  be  laid  aside  in  favour  of  a hard  pen,  either  in  the  form  of 
our  A\Tstern  pen  or  in  some  similar  form.  Note  the  result.  The- 
use  of  a metal  pen  and  fluid  ink  will  do  away  with  the  brush  pen. 
and  will  aftect  the  industry  whereby  a million  people  make  an 
already  precarious  living.  The  manufacture  of  india  ink  will 
likewise  go  to  the  wall.  The  paper  now  used  in  all  forms  of 
writing  will  be  useless,  and  a very  few,  if  any,  of  the  manufac- 
turing plants  now  in  operation  can  be  utilised  for  the  manu- 
facture of  the  hard,  calendered  paper  which  is  needed  for  use 
with  the  steel  pen.  IMoreover,  the  ink-stones,  water-cups,  writing- 
tablets,  and  all  the  other  paraphernalia  in  use  at  the  present  time 
will  have  to  be  thrown  away,  and  all  the  people  engaged  in  the 
manufacture  of  these  things  will  be  deprived  of  their  means  of 


THE  PEOPLE 


3S 

support.  All  this  is  likely  to  happen  if  the  system  proposed  is 
to  become  the  general  rule.  Note  how  far-reaching  even  such 
a seemingly  sriiall  change  as  this  will  be.  It  might  be  possible 
if  there  were  any  margin  upon  which  all  these  people  could  sub- 
sist during  the  process  of  change;  but  there  is  none.  It  is  for 
this  reason  that  the  present  writer  has  urged  that  the  Chinese 
people  be  invited  to  adopt  the  Korean  alphabet,  which  is  as  simple 
in  structure  as  any,  and  capable  of  the  widest  phonetic  adapta- 
tion. It  is  a “ square  ” character,  and  could  therefore  be  written 
with  the  brush  pen,  as  it  is  to-day  by  the  Korean.  The  same- 
paper,  ink,  and  other  apparatus  now  in  use  in  China  could  be 
retained,  and  the  only  work  to  be  done  in  introducing  it  is  to 
overcome  the  sentimental  prejudice  of  the  Chinese  in  favour  of 
the  ideograph.  It  would  affect  the  daily  occupation  of  almost 
no  Chinese  workmen  at  all.  This  illustration  has  gone  too  far  ; 
but  it  will  help  to  show  how  firmly  these  customs  have  sunk  their 
roots  in  the  soil  of  these  nations,  and  it  shows  that  conser\'atism 
has  become  a necessity  of  life,  however  much  one  might  wish  to 
get  rid  of  it.  But  let  us  get  back  to  Korea. 

The  Korean  is  highly  conservative.  One  of  his  proverbs  is 
that  “If  you  try  to  shorten  the  road  by  going  across  lots,  you 
will  fall  in  with  highwaymen.”  This  is  a strong  plea  for  stay- 
ing in  the  old  ruts.  His  face  is  always  turned  back  toward 
the  past.  He  sees  no  statesmen,  warriors,  scholars  or  artists- 
today  that  are  in  any  way  comparable  with  those  of  the  olden 
times;  nor  does  he  even  believe  that  the  present  is  capable  of 
e\'ol\'ing  men  who  are  up  to  the  standard  of  those  of  former- 
times. 

But  in  spite  of  all  this,  he  can  be  moved  out  of  his  conservatism 
by  an  appeal  to  his  self-interest.  The  introduction  of  friction 
matches  will  illustrate  this  point.  The  Korean  was  confined  to 
the  use  of  flint  and  steel  until  about  thirty  years  ago ; but  when 
matches  entered  the  country  in  the  wake  of  foreign  treaties,  he 
saw  almost  at  once  that  they  were  cheaper  and  better  in  every 
way  than  his  old  method,  and  he  adopted  them  without  the  least 


36 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


remonstrance.  There  were  a few  fossils  who  clung  to  the  flint 
and  steel  out  of  pure  hatred  of  the  new  article,  but  they  were 
laughed  at  by  the  overwhelming  majority.  The  same  is  true  of 
the  introduction  of  petroleum,  sewing-needles,  thread,  soap  and 
a thousand  other  articles  of  daily  use.  The  same  is  true  in 
China.  There  is  no  conservatism  that  will  stand  out  against 
self-interest. 

And  here  we  touch  a second  characteristic  of  the  Korean. 
It  cannot  be  truthfully  said  that  the  Korean  is  niggardly.  It  has 
been  the  opinion  of  most  who  have  had  intimate  dealings  with 
him  that  he  is  comparatively  generous.  He  is  generally  lavish 
with  his  money  when  he  has  any,  and  when  he  has  none  he  is 
quite  willing  to  be  lavish  with  some  one  else’s  money.  Host 
foreigners  have  had  a wider  acquaintance  with  the  latter  than 
with  the  former.  He  is  no  miser.  He  considers  that  money  is 
made  to  circulate,  and  he  does  his  best  to  keep  it  from  stagna- 
tion. He  thinks  that  it  is  not  worth  getting  unless  it  can  be 
gotten  easily.  I doubt  whether  there  is  any  land  where  the 
average  citizen  has  seen  greater  ups  and  downs  of  pecuniary 
fortune.  Having  a handsome  competence,  he  invests  it  all  in 
some  wild  venture  at  the  advice  of  a friend,  and  loses  it  all.  He 
grumbles  a little,  but  laughs  it  off,  and  saunters  along  the  street 
with  as  much  unconcern  as  before.  It  went  easily  — he  will  get 
some  more  as  easily.  And,  to  tell  the  truth,  he  generally  does. 
It  is  simply  because  there  are  plenty  more  as  careless  as  himself. 
He  is  undeniably  improvident;  but  there  is  in  it  all  a dash  of 
generosity  and  a certain  scorn  of  money  which  make  us  admire 
him  for  it,  after  all.  I have  seen  Koreans  despoiled  of  their 
wealth  by  hideous  official  indirection  which,  in  the  Anglo-Saxon, 
would  call  for  mob  law  instantly;  but  they  carried  it  off  with  a 
shrug  of  the  shoulders  and  an  insouciance  of  manner  which 
would  have  done  credit  to  the  most  hardened  denizen  of  Wall 
Street.  I am  speaking  here  of  the  average  Korean,  but  there  are 
wide  variations  in  both  directions.  There  are  those  who  hoard 
and  scrimp  and  whine  for  more,  and  there  are  those  who  are 


THE  PEOPLE 


37 


not  only  generous  but  prodigal.  Foreigners  are  unfavourably 
impressed  by  the  willingness  with  which  the  Korean  when  in 
poor  circumstances  will  live  on  his  friends ; but  this  is  to  a large 
extent  offset  by  the  willingness  with  which  he  lets  others  live 
on  him  when  he  is  in  flourishing  circumstances.  Bare  chance 
plays  such  a prominent  part  in  the  acquisition  of  a fortune  here, 
that  the  favoured  one  is  quite  willing  to  pay  handsomely  for  his 
good  luck.  And  yet  the  Korean  people  are  not  without  thrift. 
If  a man  has  money,  he  will  generally  look  about  for  a safe  place 
to  invest  it.  It  is  because  the  very  safest  places  are  still  so  unsafe 
that  fortune  has  so  much  to  do  with  the  matter.  He  risks  his 
money  with  his  eyes  wide  open.  He  stands  to  win  largely  or 
lose  all.  An  investment  that  does  not  bring  in  forty  per  cent  a 
year  is  hardly  satisfactory,  nor  should  it  be  satisfactory,  since 
the  chances  of  loss  are  so  great  that  the  average  of  gain  among 
a score  of  men  will  probably  be  no  more  than  in  our  own  lands. 
Why  the  chances  of  loss  are  so  great  will  be  discussed  in  its 
proper  place. 

Another  striking  characteristic  of  the  Korean  is  his  hospi- 
tality. This  is  a natural  sequence  of  his  general  open-handedness. 
The  guest  is  treated  with  cordial  courtesy,  whatever  differences 
of  opinion  there  may  be  or  may  have  been  between  them.  For 
the  time  being  he  is  a guest,  and  nothing  more.  If  he  happens 
to  be  present  at  the  time  for  the  morning  or  afternoon  meal,  it  is 
de  rigeur  to  ask  him  to  have  a table  of  food;  and  many  a man 
is  impoverished  by  the  heavy  demands  which  are  made  upon 
his  hospitality.  Not  that  others  have  knowingly  taken  undue 
advantage  of  his  good  nature,  but  because  his  position  or  his 
business  and  social  connections  have  made  it  necessary  to  keep 
open  house,  as  it  were.  A Korean  gentleman  of  my  acquaint- 
ance, who  can  live  well  on  twenty  dollars  a month  in  the  country, 
recently  refused  a salary  of  twice  that  sum  in  Seoul  on  the  plea 
that  he  had  so  many  friends  that  he  could  not  live  on  that  amount. 
Seoul  is  very  ill-supplied  with  inns ; in  fact,  it  has  very  little  use 
for  them.  Everyone  that  comes  up  from  the  country  has  a 


38 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


friend  with  whom  he  will  lodge.  It  must  be  confessed  that  there 
are  a considerable  number  of  young  men  who  come  up  to  Seoul 
and  stay  a few  days  with  each  of  their  acquaintances  in  succes- 
sion ; and  if  they  have  a long  enough  calling  list,  they  can  man- 
age to  stay  two  or  three  years  in  the  capital  free  of  board  and 
lodgings.  Such  a man  finally  becomes  a public  nuisance,  and 
his  friends  reluctantly  snub  him.  He  always  takes  this  hint 
and  retires  to  his  country  home.  I say  that  they  reluctantly  snub 
him,  for  the  Korean  is  mortally  afraid  of  being  called  sting}^ 
You  may  call  him  a liar  or  a libertine,  and  he  will  laugh  it  off; 
but  call  him  mean,  and  you  flick  him  on  the  raw.  Hospitality 
toward  relatives  is  specially  obligatory,  and  the  abuse  of  it  forms 
one  of  the  most  distressing  things  about  Korea.  The  moment 
a man  obtains  distinction  and  wealth  he  becomes,  as  it  were,  the 
social  head  of  his  clan,  and  his  relatives  feel  at  liberty  to  visit 
him  in  shoals  and  stay  indefinitely.  They  form  a sort  of  social 
body-guard,  — a background  against  which  his  distinction  can 
be  well  displayed.  If  he  walks  out,  they  are  at  his  elbow  to 
help  him  across  the  ditches ; if  he  has  any  financial  transactions 
to  arrange,  they  take  the  onerous  duty  off  his  hands.  ^Meanwhile 
every  hand  is  in  his  rice-bag,  and  every  dollar  spent  pays  toll  to 
their  hungry  purses.  It  amounts  to  a sort  of  feudal  communism, 
in  which  every  successful  man  has  to  divide  the  profits  with  his 
relatives. 

Another  marked  characteristic  of  the  Korean  is  his  pride. 
There  are  no  people  who  will  make  more  desperate  attempts  to 
keep  up  appearances.  Take  the  case  of  one  of  our  own  nonvcanx 
riches  trying  in  every  way  to  insinuate  himself  into  good  society, 
and  you  will  have  a good  picture  of  a countless  multitude  of 
Koreans.  In  spite  of  the  lamentable  lack  of  effort  to  better  their 
intellectual  status  or  to  broaden  their  mental  horizon,  there  is 
a passionate  desire  to  ascend  a step  on  the  social  ladder.  Put  the 
average  Korean  in  charge  of  a few  dollars,  even  though  they  be 
not  his  own,  or  give  him  the  supervision  of  the  labour  of  a few 
men,  — anything  that  will  put  him  over  somebody  either  physi- 


THE  PEOPLE 


39 


cally  or  financially,  and  he  will  swell  almost  to  bursting.  Any 
accession  of  importance  or  prestige  goes  to  his  head  like  new 
wine,  and  is  liable  to  make  him  very  offensive.  This  unfortunate 
tendency  forms  one  of  the  greatest  dangers  that  has  to  be  faced 
in  using  Koreans,  whether  in  business,  educational  or  religious 
lines.  There  are  brilliant  exceptions  to  this  rule,  and  with  better 
education  and  environment  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that 
e\  en  the  average  Korean  would  preserve  so  sedulously  this  un- 
pleasant quality.  It  is  true  of  Korea  as  of  most  countries,  that 
offensive  pride  shows  itself  less  among  those  who  have  cause  for 
pride  than  among  those  who  are  trying  to  establish  a claim  to  it. 
It  is  the  impecunious  gentleman  — the  man  of  good  extraction 
but  indifferent  fortune  — that  tries  your  patience  to  the  point 
of  breaking.  I was  once  acquainted  with  such  a person,  and  he 
applied  to  me  for  work  on  the  plea  of  extreme  poverty.  He  was 
a gentleman,  and  would  do  no  work  of  a merely  manual  nature, 
so  I set  him  to  work  colouring  maps  with  a brush  pen.  This  is 
work  that  any  gentleman  can  do  without  shame.  But  he  would 
come  to  my  house  and  bury  himself  in  an  obscure  corner  to  do 
the  work,  and  would  invent  all  sorts  of  tricks  to  prevent  his 
acquaintances  from  discovering  that  he  was  working.  I paid 
him  in  advance  for  his  work,  but  he  soon  began  to  shirk  it  and 
still  apply  for  more  money.  When  I refused  to  pay  more  till 
he  had  earned  what  he  had  already  received,  he  left  in  high 
dudgeon,  established  himself  in  a neighbouring  house,  and  sent 
letter  after  letter,  telling  me  that  he  was  starving.  I replied  that 
he  might  starve  if  he  wished ; that  there  was  money  for  him  if 
he  would  work,  and  not  otherwise.  The  last  note  I received 
announced  that  he  was  about  to  die,  and  that  he  should  use  all 
his  influence  on  the  other  side  of  the  grave  to  make  me  regret 
that  I had  used  him  so  shabbily.  I think  he  did  die ; but  as  that 
Avas  fifteen  years  ago,  and  I have  not  yet  begun  to  regret  my 
action,  I fear  he  is  as  shiftless  in  the  land  of  shades  as  he  was 
here.  This  is  an  extreme  but  actual  case,  and  could  doubtless 
be  duplicated  by  most  foreigners  living  in  Korea. 


40 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


The  other  side  of  the  picture  is  more  encouraging.  There  is 
the  best  of  evidence  that  a large  number  of  well-born  people  die 
annually  of  starvation  because  they  are  too  proud  to  beg  or  even 
to  borrow.  This  trait  is  embalmed  in  almost  countless  stories 
telling  of  how  poor  but  worthy  people,  on  the  verge  of  starvation, 
were  rescued  from  that  cruel  fate  by  some  happy  turn  of  fortune. 
In  the  city  of  Seoul  there  is  one  whole  quarter  almost  wholly 
given  up  to  residences  of  gentlemen  to  whom  fortune  has  given 
the  cold  shoulder.  It  lies  under  the  slopes  of  South  iSIountain, 
and  you  need  only  say  of  a man  that  he  is  a “ South  Ward 
Gentleman  ” to  tell  the  whole  story.  Ordinarily  the  destitute 
gentleman  does  not  hesitate  to  borrow.  The  changes  of  for- 
tune are  so  sudden  and  frequent  that  he  always  has  a plausible 
excuse  and  can  make  voluble  promises  of  repayment.  To  his 
credit  be  it  said  that  if  the  happy  change  should  come  he  would 
be  ready  to  fulfil  his  obligations.  It  has  to  be  recorded,  how- 
ever, that  only  a very  small  proportion  of  those  who  borrow  from 
foreigners  ever  experience  that  happy  change.  There  are  several 
ways  to  deal  with  such  people : the  first  is  to  lend  them  what 
they  want;  the  second  is  to  refuse  entirely;  and  the  third  is  to 
do  as  one  foreigner  did,  — when  the  Korean  asked  for  the  loan 
of  ten  dollars,  he  took  out  five  and  gave  them  to  him,  saying,  “ I 
will  give  this  money  to  you  rather  than  lend  you  ten.  By  so  doing 
I have  saved  five  dollars,  and  you  have  gotten  that  much  without 
having  to  burden  your  memory  with  the  debt.”  To  the  ordinary 
Korean  borrower  this  would  seem  like  making  him  a beggar,  and 
he  never  would  apply  to  the  same  source  for  another  loan.  . 

In  the  matter  of  truthfulness  the  Korean  measures  well  up  to 
the  best  standards  of  the  Orient,  which  at  best  are  none  too  high. 
The  Chinese  are  good  business  men,  but  their  honesty  is  of  the 
kind  that  is  based  upon  policy  and  not  on  morals.  Among  the 
common  people  of  that  land  truthfulness  is  at  a sad  discount. 
It  is  largely  so  in  all  Far  Eastern  countries,  but  there  are  different 
kinds  of  untruthfulness.  Some  people  lie  out  of  pure  malicious- 
ness and  for  the  mere  fun  of  the  thing.  The  Koreans  do  not 


A DANCING-GIRL  POSTURING 


THE  PEOPLE 


41 


belong  to  this  class ; but  if  they  get  into  trouble,  or  are  faced  by 
some  sudden  emergency,  or  if  the  success  of  some  plan  depends 
upon  a little  twisting  of  the  truth,  they  do  not  hesitate  to  enter 
upon  the  field  of  fiction.  The  difference  between  the  Korean  and 
the  Westerner  is  illustrated  by  the  different  ways  they  will  act 
if  given  the  direct  lie.  If  you  call  a Westerner  a liar,  it  is  best 
to  prepare  for  emergencies ; but  in  Korea  it  is  as  common  to  use 
the  expression  “You  are  a liar!”  as  it  is  to  say  “You  don’t 
say!”  “Is  it  possible!”  or  “What,  really?”  in  the  West.  A 
Korean  sees  about  as  much  moral  turpitude  in  a lie  as  we  see 
in  a mixed  metaphor  or  a split  infinitive. 

As  for  morality  in  its  narrower  sense,  the  Koreans  allow 
themselves  great  latitude.  There  is  no  word  for  home  in  their 
language,  and  much  of  the  meaning  which  that  word  connotes 
is  lost  to  them.  So  far  as  I can  judge,  the  condition  of  Korea 
to-day  as  regards  the  relations  of  the  sexes  is  much  like  that  of 
ancient  Greece  in  the  days  of  Pericles.  There  is  much  similarity 
between  the  kisang  (dancing-girl)  of  Korea  and  the  hetairai  of 
Greece.  But  besides  this  degraded  class,  Korea  is  also  afflicted 
with  other  and,  if  possible,  still  lower  grades  of  humanity,  from 
which  not  even  the  most  enlightened  countries  are  free.  The 
comparative  ease  with  which  a Korean  can  obtain  the  necessities 
of  life  makes  him  subject  to  those  temptations  which  follow  in 
the  steps  of  leisure  and  luxury,  and  the  stinging  rebuke  which  a 
Japanese  envoy  administered  at  a banquet  in  Seoul  in  1591,  vGien 
the  dancing-girls  indulged  in  a disgraceful  scramble  for  some 
oranges  that  were  thrown  to  them,  was  not  wholly  undeserved. 
To-day  there  is  little,  if  anything,  to  choose  between  Korea  and 
Japan  in  this  matter  of  private  morals,  the  geisha  of  Japan  being 
the  exact  counterpart  of  the  kisang  of  Korea,  while  the  other 
and  still  less  reputable  members  of  the  demi  monde  are  too  low 
the  world  over  to  require  classification.  This  much  must  be  said 
in  favour  of  the  Koreans,  that  this  depraved  class  is  not  recog- 
nised by  law  and  advertised  by  segregation.  But  on  this  point, 
of  course,  publicists  differ. 


42 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


Every  people  has  its  own  special  way  of  fighting.  The 
English  and  French  are  as  thoroughly  differentiated  in  this  as 
are  the  Japanese  and  Koreans.  Street  quarrels  are  extremely 
common,  but  they  seldom  result  in  any  great  damage.  Two 
stout  coolies,  the  worse  for  wine,  will  begin  disputing  over  some 
trivial  matter,  and  indulge  in  very  loud  and  very  bad  language, 
which,  in  spite  of  their  close  proximity  to  each  other,  is  delivered 
at  the  very  top  of  their  voices  and  with  an  energy  quite  volcanic. 
Our  W estern  oaths,  though  more  heinous  on  account  of  the  intro- 
duction of  the  name  of  the  Deity,  are  in  other  respects  mild 
compared  with  the  flood  of  filth  which  pours  from  the  lips  of  an 
angry  Korean.  Not  only  are  these  epithets  entirely  unquotable, 
but  even  their  nature  and  subject-matter  could  not  be  mentioned 
with  propriety.  The  very  fact  that  people  are  allowed  to  use 
such  language  in  public  without  being  immediately  arrested  and 
lodged  in  jail  is  a sufficient  commentary  on  the  sad  lack  not 
only  of  delicacy  but  of  common  decency  among  the  lowest  classes 
in  Korea. 

After  the  vocabulary  of  abuse  has  been  exhausted  the  two 
contestants  clinch  with  each  other,  each  attempting  to  grasp  the 
other  by  the  top-knot,  which  forms  a most  convenient  handle. 
To  clench  the  fist  and  strike  a blow  is  almost  unknown.  Each 
man  having  secured  his  hold,  they  begin  pulling  each  other  down, 
all  the  time  wasting  their  breath  in  mad  invective.  They  kick 
at  each  other’s  abdomens  with  their  heavy  hobnailed  shoes;  and 
Avhen  one  of  them  goes  down,  he  is  likely  to  be  kicked  to  death 
by  the  other  unless  the  onlookers  intervene,  which  is  usually  the 
case.  The  Koreans  are  great  peacemakers,  and  it  is  seldom  that 
a quarrel  between  two  individuals  results  in  a free  fight.  The 
crowd  does  not  take  sides  readily,  but  one  of  the  friends  of  each 
of  the  fighters  comes  up  behind  him  and  throws  his  anns  about 
him  and  attempts  to  drag  him  away;  or  the  peacemaker  will 
get  between  the  two  contestants  and  push  with  all  his  might, 
expostulating  as  hard  as  he  can.  It  is  really  amusing  to  see  two 
men  roused  to  a point  of  absolute  frenzy  attempting  to  get  a/ 


THE  PEOPLE 


43 


each  other  across  the  shoulders  of  two  men  who  are  pushing 
them  apart  as  hard  as  ever  they  can.  The  angry  man  will  never 
offer  violence  ,to  the  one  who  is  acting  as  peacemaker,  but  he  is 
like  a bulldog  held  in  leash,  while  his  antagonist  is  yapping  at 
him  frantically  but  futilely  from  the  other  side  of  the  ring. 
When  genuinely  angry,  the  Korean  may  be  said  to  be  insane. 
He  is  entirely  careless  of  life,  and  resembles  nothing  so  much  as 
a fanged  beast.  A fine  froth  gathers  about  his  mouth  and  adds 
much  to  the  illusion.  It  is  my  impression  that  there  is  com- 
paratively little  quarrelling  unless  more  or  less  wine  has  been 
consumed.  In  his  cups  he  is  more  Gaelic  than  Gallic.  Unfor- 
tunately this  ecstasy  of  anger  does  not  fall  upon  the  male  sex 
alone,  and  when  it  takes  possession  of  a Korean  woman  she  be- 
comes the  impersonation  of  all  the  Furies  rolled  into  one.  She 
will  stand  and  scream  so  loud  that  the  sound  finally  refuses  to 
come  from  her  throat,  and  she  simply  retches.  Every  time  I see 
a woman  indulging  in  this  nerve-racking  process  I marvel  that 
she  escapes  a stroke  of  apoplexy.  It  seems  that  the  ^Korean, 
from  his  very  infancy,  makes  no  attempt  to  control  his  temper. 
The  children  take  the  habit  from  their  elders,  and  if  things  do 
not  go  as  they  wish  they  fly  into  a terrible  passion,  which  either 
gains  its  end  or  gradually  wears  itself  out. 

The  callousness  which  the  Koreans  exhibit  in  the  presence  of 
suffering,  especially  the  suffering  of  animals,  is  a trait  which 
they  share  with  all  Orientals.  Most  dumb  animals  have  no  v»?ay 
of  showing  that  they  are  suffering  unless  the  pain  be  extreme, 
and  the  Koreans  seem  to  have  argued  from  this  that  the:e  ani- 
mals do  not  suffer;  at  any  rate,  they  show  an  utter  unconcern 
even  when  the  merest  novice  could  see  that  the  beast  v/as  suffer- 
ing horribly.  If  a sick  cat  or  a lame  dog  or  a wounded  bird  is 
seen  upon  the  street,  the  children,  young  and  old,  arm  themselves 
with  sticks  and  stones  and  amuse  themselves  with  the  thing  until 
life  is  extinct.  They  take  great  pleasure  in  catching  insects,  pull- 
ing their  legs  or  wings  off,  and  watching  their  ludicrous  motions. 
Dragon-flies  and  beetles  are  secured  by  a string  about  the  body, 


44 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


and  allowed  to  fly  or  jump  as  far  as  the  string  will  permit,  after 
which  they  are  dragged  back  to  the  hand.  Young  sparrows  that 
have  fallen  from  the  nests  beneath  the  eaves  are  passed  from  hand 
to  hand,  their  half-grown  plumage  is  coloured  with  different 
tints,  and  at  last,  of  course,  they  die  of  exhaustion.  When  an 
unfortunate  dog  is  dragged  down  the  street  with  a rope  around 
its  neck  to  the  dog-meat  shop,  it  will  be  followed  by  a jubilant 
crowd  of  children,  who  enjoy  a lively  anticipation  of  seeing  the 
poor  thing  struggle  in  the  mortal  throes  of  strangulation. 

There  is  one  economic  fact  which  goes  far  to  explain  the  com- 
parative lack  of  thrift  in  Korea.  The  ratio  of  population  to 
arable  area  is  far  smaller  than  in  Japan  or  China,  and  conse- 
quently, so  long  as  Korea  was  closed  to  outsiders,  the  average 
of  common  comfort  among  the  people  was  higher  than  in  either 
of  the  two  contiguous  countries.  ^Mendicancy  was  almost  un- 
known; rice  was  frequently  so  common  that  the  records  say 
people  could  travel  without  cost.  In  other  words,  it  required  far 
less  work  to  secure  a comfortable  living  than  elsewhere  in  the 
Orient.  The  people  were  not  driven  to  thrift  as  an  inexorable 
necessity.  From  the  purely  economic  standpoint  the  Taiwunkun 
was  right,  and  the  opening  of  Korea  was  the  worst  thing  that 
could  happen ; but  from  the  moral  and  intellectual  standpoint  the 
change  was  for  the  best,  for  it  will  in  time  bring  out  long  dor- 
mant qualities  which  otherwise  would  have  suffered  permanent 
eclipse. 

There  are  traits  of  mind  and  heart  in  the  Korean  which  the 
Far  F.ast  can  ill  afford  to  spare;  and  if  Japan  should  allow  the 
nation  to  be  overrun  by,  and  crushed  beneath,  the  wheels  of  a 
selfish  policy,  she  would  be  guilty  of  an  international  mistake  of 
the  first  magnitude. 


CHAPTER  III 


GOVERNMENT 

SO  far  as  we  can  judge  from  the  annals  of  the  land,  the 
form  of  government  which  prevails  to-day  has  existed 
in  all  its  fundamental  particulars  from  the  most  ancient 
times.  We  know  very  little  of  how  the  country  was 
governed  previous  to  the  time  of  the  great  influx  of  Chinese 
ideas  in  the  seventh  and  eighth  centuries,  but  of  this  we  may  be 
sure,  that  it  was  an  absolute  monarchy.  At  the  first  the  King  was 
called  by  the  title  Kosogan,  which  was  changed  to  Yisagum  and 
Maripkan.  These  titles,  one  or  all,  prevailed  until  the  over- 
whelming tide  of  Chinese  influence  broke  down  all  indigenous 
laws  and  the  term  Wang  came  to  be  applied.  But  even  thus  the 
common  people  clung  to  their  native  term  for  king  in  ordinary 
discourse,  and  even  to  this  day  he  calls  his  sovereign  the  Ingiirn. 
This  is  a shortened  form  of  the  ancient  Yisagum. 

In  one  sense  the  power  of  the  ruler  of  Korea  is  absolute;  but 
as  power  depends  entirely  upon  the  two  factors,  information  and 
instrument,  it  is  far  from  true  that  he  can  do  as  he  wishes  in  all 
things.  If  there  is  a divinity  that  hedges  kings  about,  she  has 
surely  done  her  work  thoroughly  in  Korea.  Though  no  divine 
honours  are  done  the  King  (now  Emperor)  of  Korea,  yet  the  sup- 
posed veneration  of  his  person  is  so  great  that  he  must  keep  him- 
self very  closely  secluded,  the  result  being  that  all  his  commands 
are  based  upon  information  provided  by  his  immediate  attend- 
ants and  officials.  Then  again,  in  the  carrying  out  of  these 
commands,  the  very  same  officials  must  be  used  who  gave  the 
information,  and  it  would  be  difficult  for  him  to  find  out  whether 
the  spirit  as  well  as  the  letter  of  the  command  had  been  carried 
out.  Granted,  then,  that  his  information  be  accurate  and  his 


46 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


instruments  loyal,  it  may  be  said  that  Korea  is  an  absolute  mon- 
archy. You  will  be  told  that  there  is  a writterr^constitution  by 
which  the  ruler  is  himself  circumscribed,  and  it  is  true  that  some 
such  book  exists ; but  it  may  be  taken  for  granted  that  unwritten 
law  and  precedent  have  much  more  to  do  with  curtailing  the 
prerogatives  of  kinghood  than  any  written  law.  Time  out  of 
mind  the  kings  of  Korea  have  taken  the  bit  in  their  teeth  and 
gone  according  to  their  own  inclinations,  irrespective  of  any 
written  or  unwritten  law;  and  it  is  beyond  question  that  no 
such  tradition  or  law  ever  stood  in  the  way  if  there  was  any 
strong  reason  for  going  counter  to  it.  Of  course  this  could 
not  be  done  except  by  the  acquiescence  of  the  officials  immedi- 
ately about  the  King’s  person. 

There  have  been  three  phases  in  the  history  of  Korean  gov- 
ernment. All  through  the  early  years,  from  the  opening  of 
our  era  until  the  beginning  of  the  present  dynasty  in  1392,  the 
civil  and  military  branches  of  the  government  were  so  evenly 
lialanced  that  there  was  always  a contest  between  them  for  the 
favour  of  the  King  and  the  handling  of  the  government.  The 
power  of  sacerdotalism  complicated  things  during  the  Koryu 
dynasty,  and  by  the  time  Koryu  came  to  its  end  the  condition  of 
things  was  deplorable.  Confucian  sympathisers,  Buddhist  sym- 
pathisers, and  military  leaders  had  carried  on  a suicidal  war 
with  each  other,  until  the  people  hardly  knew  who  it  was  that 
they  could  look  to  for  government.  And  in  fact  during  those 
last  years  the  country  governed  itself  very  largely.  There  was 
one  good  result  from  this,  that  when  Yj  T’a-jo  took  hold  of 
things  in  1392  he  found  no  one  faction  powerful  enough  to 
oppose  him  in  his  large  scheme  for  a national  reform.  From 
that  time  the  civil  power  came  to  its  rightful  place  of  supremacy 
and  the  military  dropped  behind.  This  was  an  immense  benefit 
to  the  people,  for  it  meant  progress  in  the  arts  of  peace.  The 
first  two  centuries  of  the  present  dynasty  afford  us  the  pleasantest 
picture  of  all  the  long  3’ears  of  Korea’s  life.  The  old  evils  had 
been  done  away  and  the  new  ones  had  not  been  born.  It  was  the 


GOVERNMENT 


47 


Golden  Age  of  Korea.  In  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century 
arose  the  various  political  parties  whose  continued  and  san- 
guinary strife  ■ has  made  the  subsequent  history  of  Korea  such 
nnpleasant  reading.  The  Japanese  invasion  also  did  great  harm, 
for  besides  depleting  the  wealth  of  the  country  and  draining  its 
best  and  worthiest  blood,  it  left  a crowd  of  men  who  by  their 
•exertions  had  gained  a special  claim  upon  the  government,  and 
who  pressed  their  claim  to  the  point  of  raising  up  new  barriers 
between  the  upper  and  lower  classes,  which  had  not  existed 
"before.  From  that  time  on  the  goal  of  the  Korean’s  ambition 
was  to  gain  a place  where,  under  the  protection  of  the  govern- 
ment, he  might  first  get  revenge  upon  his  enemies  and,  secondly, 
seize  upon  their  wealth.  The  law  that  was  written  in  the  statute 
books,  that  the  King’s  relatives  should  not  be  given  important 
positions  under  the  government,  came  to  be  disregarded ; tlie 
relatives  of  queens  and  even  concubines  were  raised  to  the  highest 
positions  in  the  gift  of  the  King;  and  as  if  this  were  not  enough, 
■eunuchs  aspired  to  secure  the  virtual  control  of  the  mind  of  the 
sovereign,  and  time  and  again  they  have  dictated  important  meas- 
ures of  government.  The  common  people  constantly  went  down 
in  the  scale  and  the  so-called  yaugban  went  up,  until  a condition 
■of  things  was  reached  which  formed  the  limit  of  the  people’s 
■endurance.  They  took  things  into  their  own  hands,  and,  without 
a national  assembly  or  conference,  enacted  the  law  that  popular 
riot  is  the  ultimate  court  of  appeal  in  Korea.  Officialdom  has 
■come  to  accept  and  abide  by  that  law,  and  if  a prefect  or  gov- 
ernor is  driven  out  of  his  place  by  a popular  uprising  the 
government  will  think  twice  before  attempting  to  reinstate 
him. 

But  we  must  go  on  to  describe  in  brief  and  non-technical 
terms  the  elements  which  compose  the  Korean  government.  Im- 
mediately beneath  the  King  (or  Emperor)  is  the  Prime  Minister, 
with  the  Minister  of  the  Left  and  Minister  of  the  Right  on  either 
hand.  They  form  the  ultimate  tribunal  of  all  affairs  which  affect 
the  realm.  But  there  is  a special  office,  that  of  Censor,  which  is 


48 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


quite  independent,  and  which  ranks  with  that  of  Prime  ^Minister. 
It  is  his  function  to  scrutinise  the  acts  of  the  Ministers  of  State 
and  even  of  the  King  himself,  and  point  out  mistakes  and  dangers. 
As  the  Controller  of  the  Currency  in  America  has  to  examine  all 
bills  and  give  his  approval  before  the  money  is  paid,  so  these 
Censors  have  to  take  a final  and  dispassionate  look  at  the  gov- 
ernment measures  before  they  go  into  operation.  Below  these, 
again,  are  the  six  great  offices  of  state,  coresponding  to  our 
Cabinet.  These  until  recently  comprised  the  ministries  of  the 
Interior,  Law,  Ceremonies,  Finance,  War  and  Industries.  After 
describing  their  various  functions  we  will  explain  the  changes 
that  have  been  made  in  recent  yea^s.  The  Prime  Minister  and 
his  two  colleagues  attended  to  the  private  business  of  the  King, 
superintended  the  appointment  of  officials,  and  took  the  lead  in 
times  of  sudden  calamity  or  trouble.  They  stood  between  the 
King  and  all  the  other  officials  of  the  government,  and  no  meas- 
ures were  adopted  in  any  branch  which  did  not  come  under  their 
eye.  The  Department  of  the  Interior,  or  Home  Department  as 
it  is  usually  called,  had  charge  of  the  whole  prefectural  system 
throughout  the  land,  and  was  by  far  the  most  important  of  the 
ministries.  It  had  much  to  say  in  the  appointment  of  officials, 
for  it  had  the  preparation  of  the  lists  of  nominees  for  most  of 
the  places  under  the  government.  It  also  had  charge  of  the  great 
national  examinations,  from  among  the  successful  competitors 
in  which  very  many  of  the  officials  were  chosen.  The  Law 
Department  attended  to  the  making  and  the  mending  of  the  laws, 
and  closel}^  connected  with  it  was  the  Bureau  of  Police,  which, 
although  looking  after  the  peace  of  the  capital,  carried  out  the 
requests  of  the  Law  Department  in  the  matter  of  the  detection 
and  apprehension  of  criminals.  The  Police  Department  could 
do  no  more  than  carry  on  the  preliminary  examination  of  sus- 
pects, but  for  full  trial  and  conviction  it  had  to  turn  them  over 
to  the  Law  Department.  The  Ceremonial  Department,  as  its 
name  indicates,  had  charge  of  all  government  ceremonies,  such 
as  royal  marriages,  funerals  and  sacrifices.  This  was  by  no 


GOVERNMENT 


49 


means  a sinecure,  for  the  elaborate  ceremonies  of  former  times 
taxed  the  ingenuity  and  patience  of  those  who  had  them  in  charge, 
and  mistakes  were  sure  to  be  detected  and  punished,  since  the 
ceremonies  were  public  spectacles.  No  one  who  has  seen  a royal 
procession  in  Seoul  will  doubt  that  the  Minister  of  Ceremonies 
earned  his  salary.  The  Department  of  Finance  collected  all  the 
taxes  of  the  country,  took  the  census  and  controlled  the  gran- 
aries in  which  the  revenue  was  stored.  In  former  times  much 
of  the  revenue  was  paid  in  kind,  and  not  only  rice  but  other  grain 
and  all  sorts  of  products  were  sent  up  to  Seoul  for  the  use  of 
the  royal  household.  All  these  the  Finance  Department  had 
to  receive,  examine,  approve  and  store  away.  The  War  Depart- 
ment had  charge  of  the  army  and  navy  of  Korea,  superintended 
the  great  military  examinations,  controlled  the  broad  lands  that 
had  been  set  aside  for  the  use  of  the  army,  and  collected  the 
taxes  thereon.  The  Industrial  Department  was  the  least  con- 
sidered of  all  the  great  departments,  but  it  was  perhaps  the  busiest 
and  most  useful.  It  had  charge  of  the  preparation  of  all  the 
“ stage  properties  ” of  the  government.  It  provided  all  the  fur- 
nishings for  royal  functions,  repaired  the  roads,  kept  the  public 
buildings  in  order,  and  did  any  other  odds  and  ends  of  work  that 
it  was  called  upon  for.  There  was  no  Educational  Department. 
The  matter  of  education  was  joined  with  that  of  religion,  and 
both  were  controlled  by  the  Confucian  School.  This  was  directly 
responsible  to  the  supreme  head  of  the  government  through  the 
Prime  Minister.  The  foreign  relations  of  Korea  were  so  few 
and  far  between  that  no  Foreign  Office  was  established,  but  a 
little  bureau  of  secondary  rank  attended  to-  such  affairs.  The 
sending  of  the  annual  embassy  to  China  was  in  the  hands  of  the 
Ceremonial  Department. 

This  is  the  merest  skeleton  of  the  governmental  body  of 
Korea.  There  are  almost  countless  bureaus  and  offices  whose 
nature  and  duties  form  such  a complicated  mosaic  that  the  expli- 
cation of  them  would  only  tire  the  reader.  It  should,  however, 
be  particularly  noted  that  great  changes  have  been  introduced 


50 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


since  the  opening  of  the  country  to  foreign  intercourse.  In  the 
first  place,  the  Foreign  Department  has  taken  its  place  among  the 
leading  instruments  of  government ; an  Educational  Department 
has  been  established,  co-ordinate  in  grade  with  the  other  great 
departments;  the  Ceremonial  Department  has  been  relegated 
to  a secondary  place,  and  the  Police  Bureau  has  advanced  to  a 
position  of  comparative  prominence. 

We  have  seen  that  from  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century 
the  barriers  between  the  upper  and  lower  classes  were  built 
higher  and  stronger,  and  the  common  people  gradually  got  out 
of  touch  with  the  governing  body.  This  was  the  cause  of  much 
of  the  subsequent  trouble.  i\Ien  of  common  extraction,  however 
gifted,  could  not  hope  to  reach  distinction,  and  blueness  of  blood 
became  the  test  of  eligibility  to  office  rather  than  genuine  merit. 
The  factional  spirit  added  to  this  difficulty  by  making  it  certain 
that  however  good  a statesman  a man  might  be  the  other  side 
would  try  to  get  his  head  removed  from  his  shoulders  at  the 
first  opportunity,  and  the  more  distinguished  he  became  the 
greater  would  this  desire  be.  From  that  time  to  this,  almost 
all  the  really  great  men  of  Korea  have  met  a violent  death. 
But  as  all  offices  were  filled  with  men  who  belonged  to  a sort 
of  real  nobility,  the  pride  of  place  and  the  fear  of  having  their 
honour  brought  in  question  did  much  to  save  the  common  people 
from  the  worst  forms  of  oppression.  The  officials  were  arbi- 
trary and  often  cruel,  but  their  meannesses  were  of  a large 
order,  such  as  ya7igbans  could  engage  in  without  derogation 
from  their  good  repute  in  the  eyes  of  their  peers.  But  this  state 
of  things  began  to  show  signs  of  disintegration  early  in  the 
y nineteenth  century.  The  power  of  money  in  politics  began  to 
make  itself  felt,  and  the  size  of  the  purse  came  to  figure  more 
prominently  in  the  question  of  eligibility  for  office;  the  former 
exclusiveness  of  the  \aiigba)i  gradually  gave  way,  and  the  line 
of  demarcation  between  the  upper  and  lower  classes  was  little 
by  little  obliterated,  until  at  the  end  of  the  century  there  were 
men  of  low  extraction  who  held  important  government  offices. 


GOVERNMENT 


5* 


This  worked  evil  every  way,  for  such  men  knew  that  it  was  the 
power  of  money  alone  which  raised  them  to  eminence,  and  the 
old-time  pride  which  kept  indirection  within  certain  bounds  gave 
way  to  a shameless  plundering  of  the  people.  Public  offices- 
were  bought  and  sold  like  any  other  goods.  There  was  a regu- 
lar schedule  of  the  price  of  offices,  ranging  from  fifty  thousand 
dollars  for  a provincial  governorship  to  five  hundred  dollars  for 
a small  magistrate’s  position.  The  handsome  returns  which  this 
brought  in  to  the  venial  officials  at  Seoul  fed  their  cupidity,  and, 
in  order  to  increase  these  felonious  profits,  the  tenure  of  office 
was  shortened  so  as  to  make  the  payment  of  these  enormous 
fees  more  frequent.  Of  course  this  was  a direct  tax  upon  the 
people,  for  each  governor  or  prefect  was  obliged  to  tax  the 
people  heavily  in  order  to  cover  the  price  of  office  and  to  feather 
his  own  nest  during  his  short  tenure  of  that  office.  The  central 
government  will  not  interfere  with  the  fleecing  policy  of  a pre- 
fect so  long  as  he  pays  into  the  treasury  the  regular  amount 
of  taxation,  together  with  any  other  special  taxes  that  the  gov- 
ernment may  lay  upon  the  people.  In  return  for  this  non- 
interference in  the  prefect’s  little  game  the  government  only 
demands  that  if  the  prefect  goes  beyond  the  limit  of  the  people’s 
endurance,  and  they  rise  up  and  kilt  him  or  drive  him  from 
the  place,  neither  he  nor  his  family  will  trouble  the  government 
to  reinstate  him  or  obtain  redress  of  any  kind.  It  has  come 
about,  therefore,  that  the  ability  of  a prefect  is  measured  by 
the  skill  he  shows  in  gauging  the  patience  of  the  people  and 
keeping  the  finger  on  the  public  pulse,  like  the  inquisitors,  in 
order  to  judge  when  the  torture  has  reached  a point  where  the 
endurance  of  the  victim  is  exhausted.  Why  should  the  central 
government  interfere  in  the  man’s  behalf?  The  sooner  he  is 
driven  from  his  place  the  sooner  someone  else  will  be  found  to 
pay  for  the  office  again.  Of  course  there  are  many  and  bril- 
liant exceptions,  and  not  infrequently  the  people  of  a district 
will  seize  the  person  of  their  prefect  and  demand  that  the  gov- 
ernment continue  him  in  his  office  for  another  term.  They 


52 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


know  a good  thing  when  they  see  it,  and  they  are  willing  to 
run  a little  risk  of  arrest  and  punishment  in  order  to  keep  a 
fair-minded  prefect.  They  virtually  say,  “ We  want  this  man 
for  prefect,  and  if  you  send  any  other  we  will  drive  him  out.” 
The  result  is  that  there  will  be  no  one  else  that  will  care  to  pay 
the  price  of  the  office,  and  the  government  has  to  obey  the 
command  of  the  people,  even  though  it  means  the  loss  of  the 
fee  for  that  time.  In  former  years  the  prefect  was  chosen  from 
among  the  people  of  the  district  where  he  was  to  govern.  He 
belonged  to  a local  family;  and  it  is  easy  to  see  how  there 
would  be  every  inducement  to  govern  with  moderation,  for 
indirection  would  injure  not  only  the  prefect’s  reputation,  but 
would  endanger  the  standing  of  the  whole  family.  This  was 
all  done  away  with,  however,  and  now  the  prefect  is  chosen 
from  among  the  friends  or  relatives  of  some  high  official  in 
\/Seoul,  and  is  a sort  of  administrative  free-lance  bent  upon  the 
exploiting  of  his  unknown  constituency.  He  cares  nothing  what 
the  people  think  of  him,  for  as  soon  as  he  has  squeezed  them 
to  the  limit  he  will  retire  from  office,  and  they  will  know  him 
no  more. 

If  this  were  all  that  could  be  said  of  the  country  prefect, 
we  should  conclude  that  government  is  next  to  impossible  in 
Korea,  but  the  fact  is  that  the  power  of  the  prefect  is  curtailed 
and  modified  in  a very  effective  manner  by  means  of  his  under 
officials,  through  whom  he  has  to  do  his  work.  These  men  are 
called  ajuns,  and  they  act  as  the  right-hand  man  and  factotum 
of  the  prefect.  Comparatively  low  though  the  position  of  the 
ajun  may  be,  it  can  truthfully  be  said  that  he  is  the  most 
important  man  in  the  administration  of  the  Korean  govern- 
ment. He  deserves  special  mention.  The  word  ajun  has  ex- 
isted for  many  centuries  in  Korea,  and  is  a word  of  native 
origin.  It  originally  meant  any  government  officer,  and  was 
as  applicable  to  the  highest  ministers  of  the  state  as  to  the 
lowest  government  employee ; but  when  the  administration 
changed  to  its  present  form,  the  selecting  of  prefects  from  the 


GOVERNMENT 


53 


districts  where  they  lived  was  given  up  and  the  irresponsible 
method  of  the  present  time*  was  adopted.  The  old-time  pre- 
fectural  families  however  continued  to  hold  their  name  of  ajim, 
and  the  term  gradually  became  narrowed  to  them  alone.  The 
newly  appointed  prefects,  coming  into  districts  that  they  knew 
nothing  about,  had  to  depend  upon  local  help  in  order  to  get 
the  reins  of  government  in  hand,  and  what  more  natural  than 
that  they  should  call  upon  the  ajuns  to  help?  So  it  came  about 
that  the  old  ajiin  class  became  a sort  of  hereditary  advisorship 
to  the  local  prefects  in  each  district. 

Each^prefecture  is  a miniature  of  the  central  government. 
The  prefect  becomes,  as  it  were,  the  king  of  his  little  state,  and 
the  ajuns  are  his  ministers.  So  closely  is  the  resemblance 
carried  out  that  each  prefect  has  his  six  ministers;  namely,  of 
Interior,  Finance,  Ceremonies,  War,  Law  and  Industries.  It 
is  through  these  men  that  all  the  business  is  performed.  The 
emperor  can  change  his  cabinet  at  will,  and  has  thousands  from 
whom  to  choose,  but  the  prefect  has  no  choice.  He  must  pick 
his  helpers  only  from  the  little  band  of  ajuns  in  his  district,  of 
whom  there  may  be  anywhere  from  ten  to  a hundred.  In  any 
case  his  choice  is  greatly  restricted.  Now  these  ajuns  are  all 
from  local  families,  and  have  not  only  their  reputations  to  sup- 
port, but  those  of  their  families  as  well.  It  is  this  one  thing 
that  held  the  body  politic  of  Korea  together  for  so  many  cen- 
turies, in  spite  of  the  oppression  and  discouragements  under 
which  the  people  live.  Foreigners  have  often  wondered  how 
the  Koreans  have  been  able  to  endure  it,  but  they  judge  mostly 
from  the  gruesome  tales  told  of  the  officials  at  the  capital  or 
of  the  rapacity  of  individual  prefects.  The  reason  of  it  all  lies 
with  the  ajuns,  who,  like  anchors,  hold  the  ship  of  state  to  her 
moorings  in  spite  of  tides  which  periodically  sweep  back  and 
forth  and  threaten  to  carry  her  upon  the  rocks. 

The  general  impression  is  that  the  ajuns  are  a pack  of  wolves, 
whose  business  it  is  to  fleece  the  people,  and  who  lie  awake 
nights  concocting  new  plans  for  their  spoliation.  This  is  a sad 


54 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


exaggeration.  The  Koreans  put  the  matter  in  a nutshell  when 
they  say  that  a “ big  man  ” will  escape  censure  for  great  faults 
and  will  be  lauded  to  the  skies  for  small  acts  of  merit,  while 
the  “ little  man’s  ” good  acts  are  taken  for  granted  and  his 
slightest  mistakes  are  exaggerated.  The  ajitn  is  the  scapegoat 
for  everyone’s  sins,  the  safety-valve  which  saves  the  boiler  from 
bursting.  It  is  right  to  pile  metaphors  upon  him,  for  everybody 
uses  him  as  a dumping-ground  for  their  abuse.  No  doubt  there 
are  many  bad  a j tins,  but  if  they  were  half  as  bad  as  they  are 
painted  the  people  would  long  ago  have  exterminated  them. 
They  are  fixtures  in  their  various  districts,  and  if  they  once 
forfeit  the  good-will  of  the  people  they  cannot  move  away  to 
“ pastures  new,”  but  must  suffer  the  permanent  consequences. 
Their  families  and  local  interests  are  their  hostages,  and  their 
normal  attitude  is  not  that  of  an  oppressor,  but  that  of  a buffer 
Ijetween  the  people  and  the  prefect.  They  must  hold  in  check 
the  rapacity  of  the  prefect  with  one  hand  and  appease  the  exas- 
peration of  the  people  with  the  other.  Since  it  is  their  business 
to  steer  between  these  two,  neither  of  whom  can  possibly  be 
satisfied,  uphold  their  own  prestige  with  the  prefect  and  at  the 
same  time  preserve  the  good-will  of  the  people,  is  it  any  wonder 
that  we  hear  only  evil  of  them  ? 

The  ajiin  is  no  simple  yamen-runner  who  works  with  his 
own  hands.  He  superintends  the  doing  of  all  official  business,  but 
is  no  mere  servant.  He  is  necessarily  a man  of  some  degree  of 
education,  for  he  has  to  do  all  the  clerical  work  of  the  office 
and  keep  the  accounts.  Not  infrequently  the  best  scholars  of 
the  district  are  found  among  these  semi-officials.  It  is  they 
who  influence  most  largely  the  popular  taste  and  feeling,  for 
they  come  into  such  close  touch  with  the  common  people  that 
the  latter  take  the  cue  from  them  most  readily.  They  hold  in 
their  hands  the  greatest  possibilities  for  good  or  evil.  If  they 
are  good,  it  will  be  practically  impossible  for  a bad  prefect  to 
oppress  the  people ; and  if  they  are  bad,  it  will  be  equalh'^  impos- 
sible for  a good  prefect  to  govern  well.  They  can  keep  the 


GOVERNMENT 


55 


prefect  well-informed  or  ill-informed,  and  thus  influence  his 
commands;  and  even  after  the  commands  are  issued  they  can 
frustrate  them,  for  the  execution  of  the  orders  of  their  superior 
is  entirely  in  their  hands.  It  is  when  both  ajun  and  prefect 
are  bad  together  and  connive  at  the  spoliation  of  the  people  that 
serious  trouble  arises.  This  is  often  enough  the  case ; but,  as  we 
have  seen,  the  ajiin  always  has  the  curb  of  public  opinion  upon 
him,  and  oppression  in  any  extreme  sense  is  the  exception  rather 
than  the  rule. 

The  temptations  of  the  ajun  are  very  great.  The  whole 
revenue  of  the  district  passes  through  his  hands,  and  it  would 
be  surprising  if  some  of  it  did  not  stick  to  them.  The  prefect 
wants  all  that  he  can  get,  and  watches  the  ajun  as  closely  as 
he  can ; and  at  the  same  time  the  latter  is  trying  to  get  as  much 
out  of  the  people  as  he  may,  not  only  for  the  prefect  but  for 
himself  as  well.  He  is  thus  between  two  fires.  The  people  are 
ever  trying  to  evade  their  taxes  and  jump  their  revenue  bills. 
It  is  truly  a case  of  diamond  cut  diamond.  The  qualities  neces- 
sary to  become  a successful  ajun  make  a long  and  formidable 
list.  He  must  be  tactful  in  the  management  of  the  prefect, 
exact  in  his  accounts,  firm  and  yet  gentle  with  the  people, 
resourceful  in  emergencies,  masterful  in  crises,  quick  to  turn  to 
his  advantage  every  circumstance,  and  in  fact  an  expert  in  all 
the  tricks  of  the  successful  politician.  One  of  his  most  brilliant 
attainments  is  the  ability  to  make  excuses.  If  the  people  charge 
him  with  extortion,  he  spreads  out  expostulatory  hands  and  says 
it  is  the  prefect’s  order;  and  if  the  prefect  charges  him  with 
short  accounts,  he  bows  low  and  swears  that  the  people  are 
squeezed  dry  and  can  give  no  more. 

We  have  already  shown  that  there  is  a “dead  line,”  beyond 
which  the  people  will  not  let  the  prefect  go  in  his  exactions. 
For  the  most  part  the  official  is  able  to  gauge  the  feeling  of 
the  populace  through  the  ajiins,  but  now  and  then  he  fails  to  do 
so.  The  people  of  the  north  are  much  quicker  to  take  offence 
and  show  their  teeth  than  those  in  the  south.  I remember  once 


56 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


in  1890  the  governor  of  the  city  of  Pyeng-yang  sent  some  of  his 
a juris  down  into  the  town  to  collect  a special  and  illegal  tax 
from  the  merchants  of  a certain  guild.  The  demand  was  pre- 
ferred, and  the  merchants,  without  a moment’s  hesitation,  rose 
up  en  masse,  went  to  the  house  of  the  ajun  who  brought  the 
message,  razed  it  to  the  ground  and  scattered  the  timbers  up  and 
down  the  street.  This  was  their  answer,  and  the  most  amusing 
part  of  it  was  that  the  governor  never  opened  his  mouth  in 
protest  or  tried  to  coerce  them.  He  had  his  argument  ready. 
The  ajuns  should  have  kept  him  informed  of  the  state  of  public 
opinion;  if  they  failed  to  do  so,  and  had  their  houses  pulled 
down  about  their  ears,  it  was  no  affair  of  his.  It  was  a good 
lesson  to  the  ajuns  merely.  In  another  place  the  prefect  came 
down  from  Seoul  stuffed  full  of  notions  about  governing  with 
perfect  justice  and  showing  the  people  what  enlightened  gov- 
ernment was  like.  Not  a cent  was  squeezed  for  two  months, 
and  so  of  course  there  were  no  pickings  for  the  ajuns.  They 
looked  knowingly  at  each  other,  but  praised  the  prefect  to  his 
face.  Not  long  after  this  they  came  down  upon  the  people 
with  demands  that  were  quite  unheard-of,  and  almost  tearfully 
affirmed  that  they  had  no  option.  They  knew^  the  poor  people 
could  not  stand  it,  but  they  must  obey  the  prefect.  That  night 
a few  hundred  of  the  people  armed  themselves  with  clubs  and 
came  down  the  street  tow'ard  the  prefect’s  quarters  breathing 
slaughter.  The  good  magistrate  was  told  that  the  wicked  peo- 
ple were  up  in  arms  and  that  flight  was  his  only  hope.  A'ell, 
the  bewildered  man  folded  his  tents  like  the  Arabs  and  as 
silently  stole  away,  leaving  the  a juris  to  chuckle  over  their  easy 
victory.  But  it  was  playing  with  fire,  for  in  the  course  of  time 
the  people  learned  that  they  had  been  cheated  out  of  an  honest 
prefect,  and  they  made  it  particularly  warm  for  those  wily 
ajuns. 

After  making  all  allowances  for  the  Oriental  point  of  view, 
it  must  be  confessed  that  the  pursuit  of  justice  is  often  much  like 
a wild-goose  chase.  The  law  exists  and  the  machinery  of  jus- 


GOVERNMENT 


57 


tice  is  in  some  sort  of  running  order,  but  the  product  is  very  / 
meagre.  In  order  to  explain  this  I shall  have  to  suppose  a few 
cases.  If  a man  of  the  upper  class  has  anything  against  a man 
of  the  lower  class,  he  simply  writes  out  the  accusation  on  a 
piece  of  paper  and  sends  it  to  the  Police  Bureau.  If  it  is  a slight 
offence  that  has  been  committed,  he  may  ask  the  authorities 
simply  to  keep  the  man  in  jail  for  three  or  four  days,  adminis- 
tering a good  sound  beating  once  a day.  In  three  cases  out  of 
four  this  will  be  done  without  further  investigation,  but  if  the 
gentleman  is  at  all  fair-minded  he  will  appear  in  the  course 
of  a day  or  two  and  explain  how  it  all  came  about.  The  cul- 
prit may  be  allowed  to  tell  his  side  of  the  story  or  not,  accord- 
ing as  the  police  official  in  charge  may  think  best.  If  the  friends 
of  the  arrested  man  have  money,  they  will  probably  go  to  the 
gentleman  and  say  that  if  a small  payment  will  appease  him 
and  cause  him  to  send  and  get  their  friend  out  of  prison  they 
will  be  glad  to  talk  about  it.  This  subject  of  conversation  is 
seldom  uncongenial  to  the  gentleman.  If  the  jailer  knows  that 
the  prisoner  has  money,  there  will  be  a substantial  transaction 
before  he  is  released.  I was  once  asked  to  intervene  in  the  case 
of  a Christian  convert  who  had  been  arrested  for  an  unjust 
debt.  He  was  confined  at  the  office  of  the  Supreme  Court.  I 
found  that  he  had  proved  his  case,  and  had  secured  a judgment 
which  made  him  liable  to  the  payment  of  only  five  hundred 
dollars  instead  of  three  times  that  amount.  He  had  already 
paid  three  hundred  of  it  to  the  court,  to  be  handed  to  the  cred- 
itor, but  the  court  denied  that  this  had  been  received.  It  was 
a very  transparent  trick,  and  I sat  down  and  expressed  a deter- 
mination to  stay  there  till  the  receipt  was  forthcoming.  They 
protested  that  it  was  all  right,  but  promised  to  look  up  the 
archives  over  night,  and  I retired.  The  next  morning  there 
came  a nice  note  saying  that  they  had  found  the  receipt  tucked 
away  in  the  darkest  corner  of  the  archives.  There  had  been  a 
change  in  the  staff,  and  the  retiring  incumbent  had  deposited 
the  receipt  and  had  told  nothing  about  it  to  his  successor.  Hence 


58 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


the  mistake!  But  for  the  interference  this  man  would  have 
been  compelled  to  pay  the  money  twice.  Another  case  that  came 
within  my  own  observation  was  that  of  a man  who  bought  the 
franchise  for  cutting  firewood  in  a certain  government  pre- 
serve. The  price  was  four  hundred  dollars.  This  sum  was  paid 
in  at  the  proper  office,  and  the  papers  made  out  and  delivered. 
A few  days  later  the  man  found  out  that  the  same  franchise 
had  been  sold  to  another  man  for  the  same  price,  and  when  he 
complained  at  the  office  he  was  told  that  he  would  have  to  divide 
the  franchise  with  the  other  man.  This  made  the  transaction 
a losing  one,  and  the  original  purchaser  was  ruined  by  it.  There 
was  no  means  of  redress  short  of  impeaching  one  of  the  strong- 
est officials  under  the  government.  There  is  no  such  thing  as 
a lawyer  in  the  country.  All  that  can  be  done  is  to  have  men 
face  each  other  before  the  judge  and  tell  their  respective  stories 
and  adduce  witnesses  in  their  own  defence.  Anyone  can  ask 
questions,  and  there  is  little  of  the  order  which  characterises  a 
Western  tribunal.  The  plaintiff  and  defendant  are  allowed  to 
scream  at  each  other  and  use  vile  epithets,  each  attempting  to 
outface  the  other.  It  must  be  confessed  that  the  power  of 
money  is  used  very  commonly  to  weigh  down  the  balances  of 
justice.  No  matter  how  long  one  lives  in  this  country,  he  will 
never  get  to  understand  how  a people  can  possibly  drop  to  such 
a low  estate  as  to  be  willing  to  live  without  the  remotest  hope 
of  receiving  even-handed  justice.  Not  a week  passes  but  you 
come  in  personal  contact  with  cases  of  injustice  and  brutality 
that  would  mean  a riot  in  any  civilised  country.  You  mar\  el 
how  the  people  endure  it.  Not  to  know  at  what  moment  you 
may  be  called  upon  to  answer  a trumped-up  charge  at  the  hands 
of  a man  who  has  the  ear  of  the  judge,  and  who,  in  spite  of 
your  protests  and  evidence  that  is  prima  fade,  mulcts  you  of 
half  your  property,  and  this  without  the  possibility  of  appeal  or 
redress  of  any  kind,  — this,  I say,  is  enough  to  make  life  hardly 
worth  living.  Within  a week  of  the  present  moment  a little 
case  has  occurred  just  beside  my  door.  I had  a vacant  house. 


GOVERNAIENT 


59 


the  better  part  of  which  I loaned  to  a poor  gentleman  from 
the  country  and  the  poorer  part  to  a common  labourer.  The 
gentleman  orders  the  labourer  to  act  as  his  servant  without 
wages,  because  he  is  living  in  the  same  compound.  The  labourer 
refuses  to  do  so.  The  gentleman  writes  to  the  prefect  of  police 
that  he  has  been  insulted,  and  the  police  seize  the  labourer  and 
carry  him  away.  I hear  about  the  matter  the  next  day  and 
hurry  to  the  police  office  and  secure  the  man's  release,  but  not 
in  time  to  save  him  from  a beating  which  cripples  him  for  a 
week  and  makes  it  impossible  for  him  to  earn  his  bread.  There 
is  probably  not  a foreigner  in  Korea  who  has  not  been  repeatedly 
asked  to  lend  his  influence  in  the  cause  of  ordinary  and  self- 
evident  justice. 

Wealth  and  official  position  are  practically  synonymous  in 
a country  where  it  is  generally  recognised  that  justice  is  worth 
its  price,  and  that  the  verdict  will  uniformly  be  given  to  the 
side  which  can  show  either  the  largest  amount  of  money  or 
an  array  of  influence  that  intimidates  the  judge.  I have  not 
space  in  which  to  pile  up  illustrations  of  the  ways  by  which 
people  are  manipulated  for  gain,  but  one  only  will  give  us  a 
glimpse  into  the  inner  precincts  of  the  system.  There  is  a 
country  gentleman  living  quietly  at  his  home  in  the  provinces. 
His  entire  patrimony  amounts  to,  say,  ten  thousand  dollars,  and 
consists  of  his  home  and  certain  rice-flelds  surrounding  it.  He 
is  a perfectly  law-abiding  citizen,  and  his  reputation  is  without 
a flaw,  but  he  has  no  strong  political  backing  at  Seoul  or  in 
the  prefectural  capital.  A political  trickster,  who  is  on  the  look- 
out for  some  means  to  “ raise  the  wind,”  singles  out  this  gentle- 
man for  his  victim,  after  finding  all  there  is  to  find  as  to  his 
property  and  connections.  In  order  to  carry  out  his  plan  he 
goes  to  Seoul  and  sees  the  official  who  has  charge  of  the  grant- 
ing of  honorary  degrees  or  offices.  He  asks  how  much  the  title 
of  halyim  is  worth,  and  finds  that  it  will  cost  six  thousand  dol- 
lars. He  therefore  promises  to  pay  down  the  sum  of  six  tliou- 
sand  dollars  if  the  official  will  make  out  the  papers,  inserting 


6o 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


the  name  of  the  country  gentleman  as  the  recipient  of  the  high 
honour,  and  affixing  thereto  the  statement  that  the  fee  is  ten 
thousand  dollars.  Some  questions  are  here  asked,  without  doubt, 
as  to  the  connections  of  the  gentleman  and  his  ability  to  bring 
powerful  influence  to  bear  upon  the  situation ; but  these  being 
satisfactorily  answered,  the  papers  are  made  out,  and  the  pur- 
chaser pays  over  the  promised  money,  which  he  has  probably 
obtained  by  pawning  his  own  house  at  a monthly  interest  of 
five  per  cent.  Armed  with  the  papers  thus  obtained,  he  starts 
for  the  country  and,  upon  his  arrival  at  the  town  where  the 
gentleman  lives,  announces  that  the  town  has  all  been  honoured 
by  having  in  its  midst  a man  who  has  obtained  the  rank  of 
halyiin.  He  goes  to  the  gentleman’s  house  and  congratulates 
him  and  turns  over  the  papers.  The  gentleman  looks  at  them 
aghast  and  says,  “ I have  never  applied  for  this  honom*,  and  I 
have  no  money  to  pay  for  it.  You  had  better  take  it  back  and 
tell  them  that  I must  decline.”  This  seems  to  shock  the  bearer 
of  the  papers  almost  beyond  the  power  of  speech,  but  at  last 
he  manages  to  say,  “ What ! Do  you  mean  to  say  that  you 
actually  refuse  to  accept  this  mark  of  distinction  and  favour 
from  the  government,  that  you  spurn  the  gracious  gift  and  thus 
indirectly  insult  his  Majesty?  I cannot  believe  it  of  you.”  But 
the  gentleman  insists  that  it  will  be  impossible  to  pay  the  fee, 
and  must  dismiss  the  matter  from  consideration.  This  causes  a 
burst  of  righteous  indignation  on  the  part  of  the  trickster,  and 
he  leaves  the  house  in  a rage,  vowing  that  the  prefect  will  hear 
about  the  matter.  The  people,  getting  Avind  of  how  matters 
stand,  may  rise  up  and  run  the  rascal  out  of  town,  in  which  case 
justice  will  secure  a left-handed  triumph;  but  the  probability  is 
the  fellow  will  go  to  the  prefect,  show  the  papers,  and  offer  to 
divide  the  proceeds  of  the  transaction,  at  the  same  time  intimat- 
ing in  a polite  way  that  in  case  the  prefect  does  not  fall  in  with 
the  plan  there  will  be  danger  of  serious  complications  in  Seoul, 
which  will  involve  him.  The  prefect  gives  in  and  summons  the 
gentleman,  with  the  result  that  his  entire  property  goes  to  pay 


THE  GOVERNMENT 


6i 


for  the  empty  honour,  which  will  neither  feed  his  children  nor 
shelter  them.  One  is  tempted  to  rail  at  human  nature,  and  to 
wonder  that  a man  could  be  found  so  meek  as  to  put  up  with 
this  sort  of  treatment  and  not  seek  revenge  in  murder.  This 
form  of  oppression  cannot  be  said  to  be  common,  but  even  such 
extreme  cases  as  this  sometimes  occur. 

The  penal  code  of  Korea  makes  curious  reading.  Until 
recent  years  the  method  of  capital  punishment  was  decapitation. 
It  was  in  this  way  that  the  French  priests  were  killed  in  1866. 
The  victim  is  taken  to  the  place  of  execution,  outside  the  city 
walls,  in  a cart,  followed  by  a jeering,  hooting  crowd.  Placed 
upon  his  knees,  he  leans  forward  while  several  executioners 
circle  around  him  and  hack  at  his  neck  with  half-sharpened 
swords.  The  body  may  then  be  dismembered  and  sent  about 
the  country  in  six  sections,  to  be  viewed  by  the  people  as  an 
object-lesson.  And  a very  effective  one  it  ought  to  be.  Since 
the  Japan-China  war  this  method  has  been  given  up,  and  the 
criminal  is  strangled  to  death  in  the  prison  or  is  compelled  to 
drink  poison.  Women  who  are  guilty  of  capital  crimes  are 
generally  executed  by  poison.  The  most  terrible  kind  of  poison 
used  is  made  by  boiling  a centipede.  The  sufferings  which  pre- 
cede death  in  this  case  are  very  much  greater  than  those  which 
accompany  decapitation,  but  all  would  prefer  to  be  poisoned,  for 
thus  the  publicity  is  avoided.  Many  are  the  stories  of  how  men 
have  bravely  met  death  in  the  poisoned  bowl.  One  official  was 
playing  a game  of  chess  with  an  acquaintance.  A very  inter- 
esting point  had  been  reached,  and  a few  moves  would  decide 
the  contest.  At  that  moment  a messenger  came  from  the  King 
with  a cup  of  poison  and  delivered  the  gruesome  message.  The 
official  looked  at  the  messenger  and  the  cup,  but  waved  them 
aside,  saying,  “ Just  wait  a moment.  You  should  not  disturb 
a man  when  he  is  in  the  midst  of  a game  of  chess.  I will  drink 
the  poison  directly.”  He  then  turned  to  his  opponent  and  said, 
“ It ’s  your  turn  to  play.”  He  won  the  game  after  half-a-dozen 
moves,  and  then  quietly  turned  and  drank  off  the  poison.  Trea- 


62 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


son,  murder,  grave  desecration  and  highway  robbery  are  the 
most  common  causes  of  the  execution  of  the  capital  sentence; 
Put  there  are  others  that  may  be  so  punished  at  the  will  of  the 
judge,  — striking  a parent,  for  instance,  or  various  forms  of 
Icsc  majcste.  Treason  always  takes  the  form  of  an  attempt  to 
depose  the  supreme  head  of  the  government  and  substitute 
another  in  his  place.  The  lamentable  strife  of  parties  and  the 
consequent  bitterness  and  jealousy  are  the  most  to  blame  for 
such  lapses,  and  they  are  by  no  means  uncommon,  though 
usually  unsuccessful.  Until  recent  years  it  was  always  cus- 
tomary to  follow  the  execution  of  a traitor  with  the  razing  of 
his  house,  the  confiscation  of  all  his  property,  the  death  of  all 
his  sons  and  other  near  male  relatives,  and  the  enslavement  of 
all  the  female  portion  of  the  family.  It  has  recently  been  enacted 
that  the  relatives  should  be  exempt.  To  us  it  seems  strange  that 
the  innocent  should,  for  so  many  centuries,  have  been  punished 
with  the  guilty,  but  a very  little  study  of  Korean  conditions  will 
solve  the  difficulty.  There  has  never  existed  a police  force  in 
this  country  competent  to  hunt  down  and  apprehend  a criminal 
who  has  had  a few  hours’  start.  \Mien  a crime  is  discovered, 
it  is  possible  to  w'atch  the  city  gates  and  seize  the  man  if  he 
attempts  to  go  out  wdthout  a disguise;  but  there  are  fifty  ways 
by  which  he  can  evade  the  officers  of  the  law,  and  it  is  always 
recognised  that,  once  beyond  the  wall,  there  is  absolutely  no  use 
in  trying  to  catch  him,  unless  there  is  good  reason  to  know  that 
he  has  gone  to  some  specific  place.  If  his  guilt  is  certain,  the 
law^  demands  that  his  family  produce  him,  and  it  will  go  very 
hard  with  them  if  the  fugitive  does  not  come  back.  But  if  he 
is  only  suspected,  the  way  the  police  attempt  to  catch  him  is  by 
watching  his  house  in  Seoul,  feeling  sure  that  at  some  time  or 
other  he  will  come  back  in  secret.  From  the  earliest  times  it 
was  found  necessary  to  put  a check  upon  crime,  of  such  a nature 
that  even  though  the  criminal  himself  could  not  be  caught,  he 
would  abstain  from  evil.  The  onl)'-  w'ay  was  to  involve  Ins 
family  in  the  trouble.  This  made  the  criminal  pause  before 


OTIUM  SINE  UIGNITATE 


THE  GOVERNMENT 


63 


committing  the  crime,  knowing  that  his  family  and  relatives 
must  suffer  with  him.  It  was  preventive  merely  and  not  retribu- 
tive punishment. 

The  commonest  method  of  punishing  officials  has  always  been 
banishment.  No  man  was  ever  exiled  from  the  country,  for  in 
the  days  before  the  country  was  opened  to  foreign  intercourse 
this  would  have  seemed  far  more  cruel  than  death ; but  banish- 
ment means  the  transportation  of  the  offender  to  some  distant 
portion  of  the  country,  often  some  island  in  the  archipelago,  and 
keeping  him  there  at  government  expense  and  under  strict 
espionage.  The  distance  from  the  capital  and  the  length  of  time 
of  banishment  are  in  accord  with  the  heinousness  of  the  offence. 
At  the  present  time  there  are  some  half-dozen  men  in  life  banish- 
ment to  distant  islands,  who  were  once  high  officials  at  the  court. 
In  the  very  worst  cases  the  banished  man  is  enclosed  in  a thorn 
hedge,  and  his  food  is  pushed  through  a hole  to  him.  It  is  a 
living  death.  For  light  offences  an  official  may  be  sent  for  a 
month  or  two  to  some  outlying  village  or  to  his  native  town. 
If  an  official  has  cause  to  suspect  that  he  is  distasteful  to  the 
King,  or  if  he  has  been  charged  with  some  dereliction  of  duty 
by  some  other  official,  he  will  go  outside  the  gates  of  Seoul  and 
lodge  in  the  suburbs,  sending  a message  to  the  King  to  the  effect 
that  he  is  unworthy  to  stay  in  the  capital.  This  is  a method  of 
securing  a definite  vindication  from  the  King  or  else  a release 
from  official  duties.  It  sometimes  happens  that  the  King  will 
send  a man  outside  the  gates  in  this  way  pending  an  investiga- 
tion, or  as  a slight  reprimand  for  some  non-observance  of  court 
etiquette.  In  all  but  the  severer  cases  of  banishment  the  offender 
is  allowed  to  have  his  family  with  him  in  his  distant  retreat ; but 
this  is  by  no  means  usual.  Each  prefecture  in  the  country  is 
supposed  to  have  a special  building  provided  for  the  purpose 
of  housing  government  officials  who  have  been  banished,  and  the 
cost  of  the  keeping  of  such  banished  men  is  a charge  on  the  gov- 
ernment revenues.  In  the  case  of  political  offenders  who  have 
a strong  following  in  the  capital,  it  has  generally  been  found 


64 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


advisable  to  banish  them  first,  and  then  send  and  have  them  exe- 
cuted at  their  place  of  banishment.  It  gives  less  occasion  for 
trouble  at  the  capital.  Every  King  who  has  been  deposed  has 
been  so  treated. 

The  other  forms  of  punishment  in  vogue  are  imprisonment, 
beating  and  impressment  into  the  chain-gang.  Men  that  are 
slightly  suspected  of  seditious  ideas  are  kept  under  lock  and  key, 
so  that  they  may  not  have  an  opportunity  to  spread  their  dan- 
gerous notions.  Nothing  can  be  proved  against  them,  and  they 
are  simply  held  in  detention,  awaiting  a promised  trial  which 
in  many  cases  never  comes  off.  One  man  has  lately  been  released 
from  prison  who  remained  a guest  of  the  government  in  this 
way  for  six  or  seven  years  without  trial.  He  was  suspected  of 
too  liberal  ideas. 

The  prisons,  whether  of  the  capital  or  the  provinces,  are  mere 
shelters  with  earth  floors  and  without  fires.  Food  is  supplied 
by  the  friends  of  the  victim,  or  he  will  probably  die  of  starvation. 
Every  time  the  thermometer  goes  down  below  zero  in  the  winter 
we  hear  of  a certain  number  of  cases  of  death  from  freezing  in 
the  prisons.  But  the  sanitary  arrangements  are  such  that  it 
remains  a moot  question  whether  the  freezing  cold  of  winter  is 
not  preferable  to  the  heats  of  summer. 

The  most  degrading  form  of  punishment  is  that  of  the  chain- 
gang;  for  here  the  offender  is  constantly  being  driven  about  the 
streets  in  a dull  blue  uniform,  chained  about  the  neck  to  three  or 
four  other  unfortunates,  and  ever  subject  to  the  scorn  of  the 
public  eye.  It  can  be  imagined  with  what  feelings  a proud  man 
who  has  been  accustomed  to  lord  it  over  his  fellows  will  pass 
through  the  streets  in  this  guise.  These  slaves  are  put  to  all 
sorts  of  dirty  work,  and  their  emaciated  and  ansmic  counte- 
nances peer  out  from  under  their  broad  straw  hats  with  an  inso- 
lence born  of  complete  loss  of  self-respect. 

The  penal  code  is  filled  with  directions  for  administering 
beatings.  The  number  of  blows  is  regulated  by  law,  but  it  hardly 
need  be  said  that  the  limitation  of  the  punishment  to  the  legal 


THE  GOVERNMENT 


65 


number  is  dependent  upon  several  important  circumstances.  In 
the  dim  past  there  was  a government  gauge  or  measure  which 
determined  the  size  of  the  sticks  used  for  beating  criminals;  but 
this  passed  away  long  ago,  and  now  the  rods  are  whatever  the 
minions  of  the  law  may  select.  Much  of  this  work  is  done  with 
a huge  paddle,  which  falls  with  crushing  force,  frequently  break- 
ing the  bones  of  the  leg  and  rendering  the  victim  a cripple 
for  life.  If  he  can  afford  to  pay  a handsome  sum  of  money,  the 
blows  are  partially  arrested  in  mid  air  and  fall  with  a gentle  spat, 
or  in  some  cases  the  ground  beside  the  criminal  receives  the  blows. 
To  use  the  significant  abbreviation,  “ it  all  depends.”  Who  that 
is  conversant  with  Korean  life  has  not  passed  the  local  yamens 
in  the  country  and  heard  lamentable  howls,  and  upon  inquiry 
learned  that  some  poor  fellow  was  being  hammered  nearly  to 
death?  Crowding  in  to  get  a sight  of  the  victim,  you  behold 
him  tied  to  a bench,  and  each  time  the  ten-foot  oar  falls  upon 
him  you  think  it  will  rend  his  flesh.  He  shrieks  for  mercy 
between  fainting  fits,  and  is  at  last  cai'ried  away,  more  dead  than 
alive,  to  be  thrown  into  his  pen  once  more,  and  left  without 
other  attendance  than  that  of  his  family,  who  are  entirely  igno- 
rant of  the  means  for  binding  up  his  horrible  wounds.  Beating 
seems  to  be  an  essential  feature  in  almost  all  punishment.  No 
criminal  is  executed  until  after  he  has  been  beaten  almost  to 
death.  It  is  understood  that  before  an  execution  can  take  place 
the  criminal  must  confess  his  crime  and  acknowledge  the  justice 
of  his  sentence.  This  is  not  required  in  Western  lands,  and  a man 
may  go  to  his  death  protesting  his  innocence ; but  not  so  in  the 
East.  He  is  put  on  the  whipping-bench  and  beaten  until  he  sub- 
scribes to  his  own  undoing.  He  may  be  never  so  innocent,  but 
the  torture  will  soon  bring  him  to  his  senses;  and  he  will  see 
that  it  is  better  to  be  killed  by  a blow  of  the  axe  than  to  be  slowly 
tortured  to  death. 

This  brings  us  to  the  question  of  torture  for  the  purpose  of 
obtaining  evidence.  It  is  bad  enough  to  be  subpoenaed  in  America 
to  attend  court  and  witness  in  a case,  but  in  Korea  this  is  a still 


66 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


more  serious  matter.  The  witnesses  have,  in  many  cases,  to  be 
seized  and  held  as  practical  prisoners  until  the  trial  of  the  case. 
Especially  is  this  so  in  k criminal  case.  The  witness  is  not  looked 
upon  as  actually  to  blame  for  the  crime,  but  one  would  think 
from  the  treatment  that  he  receives  that  he  was  considered  at 
least  a particeps  criminis.  The  witness-stand  is  often  the  torture 
block,  and  the  proceedings  begin  with  a twist  of  the  screw  in 
order  to  make  the  witness  feel  that  he  is  “ up  against  the  law.” 
In  a murder  case  that  was  tried  in  the  north,  in  which  an  attempt 
was  made  to  find  the  perpetrator  of  this  crime  upon  the  person 
of  a British  citizen  at  the  gold-mines,  one  of  the  witnesses,  who 
was  suspected  of  knowing  more  about  the  matter  than  he  would 
tell,  was  placed  in  a sitting  posture  on  the  ground  and  tied  to  a 
stout  stake.  He  was  bound  about  the  ankles  and  the  knees, 
and  then  two  sticks  were  crowded  down  between  his  two  calves 
and  pried  apart  like  levers  so  that  the  bones  of  the  lower  leg“ 
were  slowly  bent  without  breaking.  The  pain  must  have  been 
horrible,  and  men  who  saw  it  said  that  the  victim  fainted  several 
times,  but  continued  to  assert  his  ignorance  of  the  whole  matter. 
When  he  was  half  killed,  they  gave  him  up  as  a bad  case  and  sent 
him  away.  As  he  crawled  off  to  his  miserable  hovel,  he  must 
have  carried  with  him  a vivid  appreciation  of  justice.  It  turned 
out  that  he  was  wholly  innocent  of  any  knowledge  of  the  crime, 
but  that  did  not  take  away  the  memory  of  that  excruciating  pain 
that  he  had  endured. 

We  have  said  that  there  are  no  lawyers  in  Korea.  The  result 
is  that  a suspected  criminal  has  no  one  to  conduct  his  defence, 
and  the  witnesses  have  no  guarantee  that  they  will  be  questioned 
in  a fair  manner.  The  judge  and  his  underlings,  or  some  one 
at  his  elbow,  ask  the  questions,  and  these  are  coloured  by  the 
prejudices  of  the  inteiTOgator,  so  that  it  is  not  likely  that  the 
truth,  the  whole  truth  and  nothing  but  the  truth  will  be  forth- 
coming. If  the  witness  knows  what  evidence  the  judge  wishes 
to  bring  out,  and  that  the  lash  will  be  applied  until  such  evidence 
is  forthcoming,  it  is  ten  to  one  that  he  will  say  what  is  desired^ 


THE  GOVERNMENT 


67 


irrespective  of  the  facts.  Many  witnesses  have  only  in  mind 
to  find  out  as  soon  as  possible  what  it  is  the  judge  wants  them 
to  say,  and  then  to  say  it.  Why  should  they  be  beaten  for 
nothing?  Of  course  it  would  be  rash  to  say  that  in  many,  per- 
haps a majority,  of  cases  some  sort  of  rough  justice  is  not  done. 
Society  could  hardly  hold  together  without  some  modicum  of 
justice,  but  it  will  be  fairly  safe  to  say  that  the  amount  of  even- 
handed  justice  that  is  dispensed  in  Korea  is  not  much  more  than 
is  absolutely  necessary  to  hold  the  fabric  of  the  commonwealth 
from  disintegration.  The  courts  are  not  the  friends  of  the 
people  in  any  such  sense  that  they  offer  a reasonable  chance 
for  the  proper  adjustment  of  legal  difficulties.  And  yet  the- 
commonest  thing  in  Korea  is  to  hear  men  eKclaim  “ Chapan 
hapsita,”  which  means  “ Let  us  take  the  thing  into  court.”  It 
may  be  readily  conjectured  that  it  is  always  said  in  hot  blood,, 
without  thinking  of  the  consequences,  for  there  is  not  more  than 
one  chance  in  ten  that  the  question  at  issue  is  worth  the  trouble, 
and  not  more  than  one  in  two  that  it  would  be  fairly  adjudi- 
cated. One  of  the  commonest  methods  of  extortion  is  that  of 
accusing  a man  of  an  offence  and  demanding  pecuniary  payment 
or  indemnity.  By  fixing  things  beforehand  the  success  of  such 
a venture  can  be  made  practically  sure.  And  this  evil  leads  to 
that  of  blackmail.  The  terrible  prevalence  of  this  form  of  indi- 
rection is  something  of  a gauge  of  Korean  morals.  It  is  prac- 
tised in  all  walks  of  life,  but  generally  against  those  of  lower 
rank.  It  is  so  common  that  it  is  frequently  anticipated,  and 
regular  sums  are  paid  over  for  the  privilege  of  not  being  lied 
about,  just  as  bands  of  robbers  are  subsidised  in  some  countries 
to  secure  immunity  from  sudden  attack.  It  is  the  same  in  Korea 
as  in  China ; there  is  a certain  point  beyond  which  it  does  not 
pay  to  go  in  oppressing  those  that  are  weaker  than  one’s  self. 
These  people  have  learned  by  heart  the  story  of  the  goose  that 
laid  the  golden  egg;  and  while  they  hunt  the  eggs  very  early 
in  the  morning  and  with  great  thoroughness,  they  do  not  actually 
kill  the  bird.  The  goose,  on  the  other  hand,  does  all  in  its  power 


68 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


to  direct  its  energies  in  some  other  direction  than  the  laying  of 
eggs,  and  with  some  success.  This  we  may  call  the  normal  con- 
dition of  Korean  society,  in  which  the  rule  is  to  take  as  much 
as  can  be  gotten  by  any  safe  means,  irrespective  of  the  ethics  of 
the  situation,  and  to  conceal  so  far  as  possible  the  possession  of 
anything  worth  taking.  This  is  the  reason  why  so  many  people 
wonder  how  a few  Korean  gentlemen  were  able  to  offer  the 
government  a loan  of  four  million  yen  a few  months  ago  in  order 
to  prevent  the  Japanese  from  securing  a hold  on  the  customs 
returns.  Many,  if  not  most,  foreigners  suppose  that  no  Korean’s 
estate  will  sum  up  more  than  a hundred  thousand  dollars;  but 
the  fact  is  that  there  are  many  millionaires  among  them,  and  a 
few  multi-millionaires.  Ostentation  is  not  their  cue,  for  know- 
ledge of  their  opulence  wmuld  only  stir  up  envy  in  the  minds 
of  the  less  fortunate,  and  ways  might  be  found  of  unburdening 
them  of  some  of  their  surplus  wealth.  If  there  are  great  for- 
tunes in  Korea,  it  must  be  confessed  that  they  generally  repre- 
sent the  profits  of  many  years  of  official  indirection.  There  is 
no  law  of  primogeniture  wdiich  would  tend  to  keep  an  immense 
patrimony  in  the  hands  of  a single  individual.  It  is  sure  to  be 
divided  up  among  the  family  or  clan  in  the  second  generation. 


CHAPTER  IV 


LEGENDARY  AND  ANCIENT  HISTORY 

The  beginnings  of  Korean  history  are  shrouded  in 
mystery,  in  which  legend  and  myth  take  the  place 
of  definite  recorded  fact.  These  tales  go  back  to  no 
mean  antiquity,  for  tradition  says  the  great  Tangun 
appeared  over  four  thousand  years  ago.  His  coming  was  in  this 
wise:  a bear  and  a tiger  met  upon  a mountain  side  and  wished 
that  they  might  become  human  beings.  They  heard  the  voice 
of  the  Creator  say,  “ Eat  a bunch  of  garlic  and  retire  unto  this 
cave  and  fast  for  twenty-one  days  and  you  shall  become  men.” 
They  ate  and  sought  the  gloom  of  the  cave;  but  ere  the  time 
was  half  up,  the  tiger,  by  reason  of  the  fierceness  of  his  nature, 
could  no  longer  ^dure  the  restraint  and  so  came  forth ; but  the 
bear,  with  greater  patience,  waited  the  allotted  time,  and  then 
stepped  forth  a perfect  woman.  Whanung,  the  son  of  Whanin 
the  Creator,  asked  his  father  to  give  him  an  earthly  kingdom. 
The  request  was  granted,  and  the  spirit  came  on  the  wings  of 
the  wind  to  earth.  It  found  the  woman  sitting  beside  a stream. 
It  breathed  about  her,  and  she  brought  forth  a son,  and  cradled 
him  in  moss  beside  the  brook.  In  after  years  the  wild  people 
found  him  there  beneath  a paktal-tree,  and  made  him  their  king. 
He  taught  them  the  rite  of  marriage,  the  art  of  building,  and 
the  way  to  bind  up  the  hair  with  a cloth.  He  is  said  to  have 
ruled  from  2257  b.  c.  to  1122  b.  c.,  with  the  town  of  Pyeng-yang 
as  his  capital. 

Kija  was  a refugee  from  China  at  the  time  of  the  fall  of  the 
Shang  dynasty  in  1122.  He  was  asked  to  take  office  under  the 
new  regime  but  refused,  and  secured  permission  to  emigrate  to 
Korea  with  five  thousand  followers.  Whether  he  came  by  sea 


70 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


or  by  land  is  not  known;  but  upon  his  arrival  he  settled  at 
Pyeng-yang,  the  Tangun  retiring  to  Kuwul  Mountain,  where 
he  shortly  after  resumed  his  spirit  shape  and  disappeared.  Kija, 
if  he  was  really  an  historical  character,  was  one  of  the  greatest 
and  most  successful  colonisers  that  the  world  has  ever  seen. 
He  brought  with  him  artisans  of  every  kind,  and  all  the  other 
necessities  of  a self-supporting  colony.  Arriving  here,  he  began 
a peaceful  reign,  making  special  laws  for  the  civilising  of  the 
half-wild  people,  and  adopting  the  language  of  the  country.  The 
stories  that  are  told  of  his  administrative  powers  would  fill  a 
volume.  He  was  familiar  with  every  phase  of  good  government. 
His  penal  code  was  ideal,  his  financial  system  was  perfectly 
adapted  to  the  time,  his  wisdom  was  never  at  fault.  He  was 
the  King  Arthur  of  Korea.  It  is  believed  that  it  was  by  him 
that  the  land  was  first  called  Chosun,  or  “ Land  of  iMorning 
Freshness.”  No  remnants  of  literature  have  come  down  to  us 
from  his  time;  and  while  the  Koreans  passionately  resent  the 
supposition  that  he  was  a merely  legendary  character,  and  show 
his  tomb  and  many  other  relics  of  his  kingdom,  it  can  never  be 
definitely  said  that  he  was  an  historical  character.  Outside  the 
new  city  of  Pyeng-yang  is  shown  the  site  of  Kija’s  capital,  the 
ancient  well  dug  by  that  sage,  and  a monument  inscribed  with  his 
virtues. 

The  Kija  dynasty  showed  its  virility  by  lasting  almost  a 
thousand  years.  The  names  of  the  forty-two  kings  of  the 
dynasty  are  given,  and  some  apocryphal  events  of  the  dynasty's 
history,  but  no  great  confidence  can  be  placed  in  them.  The  art 
of  writing  was  in  its  infancy,  and  not  a single  word  of  recorded 
history  has  come  down  to  us. 

In  193  B.  c.  Wiman,  a fugitive  from  Chinese  justice,  crossed 
the  Yalu  with  a few  followers,  and  found  asylum  under  the 
^egis  of  Kijun,  the  last  King  of  Old  Chosun.  This  Yhman  emu- 
lated the  example  of  the  proverbial  snake  in  the  bosom,  and  as 
soon  as  he  had  consummated  his  plans  he  descended  upon  the 
unwary  Kijun  and  compelled  him  to  take  boat  with  a few  fol- 


LEGENDARY  AND  ANCIENT  HISTORY  71 


lowers  and  flee  southward  along  the  coast.  The  kingdom  of 
Ancient  Chosun  never  extended  southward  further  than  the  Han 
River,  but  it  had  gone  far  beyond  the  limits  of  the  Yalu,  and  at 
one  time  stretched  as  far  as  the  present  city  of  Mukden.  Man- 
churia is  full  of  Korean  graves,  and  for  many  centuries  the  power 
of  Chosun  was  felt  in  this  region. 

Wirrian  the  usurper  did  not  long  enjoy  his  stolen  sweets. 
Eighty  years  after  he  came,  the  rule  that  he  set  up  was  crushed 
by  the  Chinese  Emperor  Wu-wang,  and  all  northern  Korea  was 
divided  into  four  provinces,  under  direct  Chinese  sway.  This 
continued  until  36  a.  d.,  when  the  kingdom  of  Koguryu  was 
established. 

But  we  must  follow  the  fortunes  of  Kijun,  who  had  fled 
south.  He  landed  on  the  shore  of  southern  Korea,  and  there 
found  a peculiar  race  of  people,  differing  in  almost  every  respect 
from  those  of  the  north.  Their  language,  customs,  institutions 
and  manners  were  so  curious  that  the  account  of  Kijun’s  aston- 
ishment is  preserved  in  tradition  to  the  present  day.  There  were 
three  groups  of  tribes  scattered  along  the  southern  coast  of  the 
peninsula.  They  were  the  Mahan,  Pyonhan  and  Chinhan.  Each 
of  these  was  composed  of  a large  number  of  independent  and 
autonomous  tribes.  It  is  very  probable  that  these  people  were 
settlers  from  the  south.  They  bear  a strong  resemblance  to 
the  Malays,  Formosans  and  other  southern  peoples.  The  lan- 
guage, houses,  customs,  ornaments,  traditions  and  many  other 
things  point  strongly  toward  such  a southern  origin. 

Kijun,  with  the  superior  civilisation  which  he  brought  with 
him,  found  no  difficulty  in  establishing  control  over  the  people 
of  Mahan,  and  for  many  decades  the  Kija  dynasty  continued 
in  its  second  home.  But  meanwhile  important  things  were  hap- 
pening on  the  eastern  coast  among  the  people  of  Chinhan.  At 
the  time  of  the  building  of  the  Great  Wall  in  China,  about 
225  B.  c.,  a great  number  of  Chinese  had  fled  across  the  Yellow 
Sea  to  Korea,  and,  after  wandering  about  awhile,  had  been 
given  a place  to  live  by  the  people  of  Chinhan.  The  superior 


72 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


arts  which  they  brought  with  them  exerted  a great  influence 
upon  their  neighbours,  and  as  they  gradually  became  absorbed 
with  the  population  of  Chinhan,  a new  and  stronger  civilisation 
had  its  birth  there.  It  was  in  57  b.  c.  that  several  of  the  most 
powerful  chiefs  met  and  agreed  to  consolidate  their  interests  and 
establish  a kingdom  such  as  that  which  they  had  heard  about 
from  their  Chinese  guests.  This  was  done,  and  a kingdom  was 
established,  with  its  capital  at  the  present  town  of  Kyongju.  It 
was  called  Suyabul  at  first,  but  as  it  is  generally  known  by  the 
name  Silla,  which  it  adopted  five  centuries  later,  we  shall"  call 
it  by  that  name.  A few  years  later  a man  named  Chumong  is 
said  to  have  fled  from  his  home  in  the  far  north  near  the 
Sungari  River  and  to  have  come  across  the  Yalu  into  Korea. 
The  Chinese  rule  in  those  regions  had  become  very  weak,  and 
Chumong  found  no  difficulty  in  welding  the  scattered  people 
into  a strong  kingdom.  It  was  this  man  who,  it  is  said,  crossed 
the  river  on  the  fish  which  came  to  the  surface  and  laid  their 
backs  together  to  make  a bridge  for  him.  The  kingdom  which 
he  founded  was  called  Koguryu,  and  it  comprised  all  the  north- 
ern portion  of  the  peninsula.  Again,  in  9 b.  c.,  a fugitive  from 
Koguryu  came  into  the  northern  borders  of  ^lahan,  and  by 
treachery  succeeded  in  wresting  the  kingdom  away  from  its 
rightful  king,  on  whose  fallen  throne  he  erected  the  new  king- 
dom of  Pakche.  So  that  with  the  opening  of  our  era  there  were 
three  powers  in  Korea,  — Silla  in  the  southeast,  Pakche  in  the 
southwest  and  Koguryu  in  the  north. 

The  kingdom  of  Silla  was  by  far  the  most  highly  civilised 
of  the  three  kingdoms.  She  was  an  eminently  peaceful  power, 
and  paid  more  attention  to  the  arts  of  peace  than  to  those  of 
war.  Koguryu  in  the  north  was  just  the  opposite.  She  was 
constantly  at  war  either  with  one  of  her  sister  states  or  with 
China.  And  she  made  by  no  means  a mean  antagonist.  At  one 
time  her  territory  stretched  far  beyond  the  Yalu,  and  she  was 
able  to  defy  the  armies  of  China.  Once  an  army  of  over  a 
million  Chinese  came  and  encamped  upon  the  western  bank  of 


RELICS  OF  ANCIENT  KOREA 

The  upper  picture  shows  the  Ancient  Bell  of  Silla,  one  of  the  largest 
in  the  world,  cast  about  1400  years  ago.  The  lower  illustration  pre- 
sents the  so-called  “ White  Buddha,”  near  Seoul.  The  people  say 
that  however  high  the  water  rises  in  the  stream  it  flows  around  the  feet 
of  the  image  without  touching  them 


LEGENDARY  AND  ANCIENT  HISTORY 


73 


the  Yalu,  determined  that  Koguryu  must  be  destroyed.  Three 
hundred  thousand  of  them  crossed  the  river  ■ and  marched  on 
Pyeng-yang,  but  they  were  drawn  into  an  ambush  and  cut 
down  by  the  thousands.  The  remainder  fled,  but  lost  their  way 
and  were  destroyed  one  by  one,  so  that  of  those  three  hundred 
thousand  men  only  seven  thousand  went  back  across  the  Yalu 
alive. 

The  kingdom  of  Pakche  was  like  neither  of  the  other  two. 
She  attended  neither  to  the  arts  of  peace  nor  to  those  of  war. 
Her  whole  history  is  one  of  self-gratification  and  pleasure.  We 
learn  of  no  great  acts  that  she  performed,  nor  of  any  praise- 
worthy achievements.  She  generally  gained  by  deceit  and 
treachery  what  she  wanted,  but  had  not  the  courage  to  wage 
a war  of  conquest  with  either  of  her  neighbours.  There  are 
many  things  which  attest  the  high  civilisation  which  Silla 
attained.  To-day  there  hangs  in  the  town  of  Kyongju,  Silla’s 
old  capital,  a huge  bell,  the  largest  in  Korea  and  one  of  the 
largest  in  the  world.  It  was  cast  in  the  early  days  of  Silla,  only 
a few  centuries  after  Christ.  This  alone  would  go  far  to  prove 
the  point,  for  the  ability  to  cast  a bell  of  that  size  argues  a 
degree  of  mechanical  and  industrial  skill  of  no  mean  dimensions. 
But  besides  this,  there  is  still  to  be  seen  near  that  same  town 
a stone  tower  that  was  used  for  astronomical  purposes.  We 
read  in  the  records  that  Silla  kept  strict  account  of  the  various 
meteorological  phenomena,  such  as  eclipses  of  the  sun  and  of 
meteors.  At  one  place  we  read  that  an  expected  eclipse  of  the 
sun  failed  to  take  place,  which  indicates  that  they  could  calculate 
the  date  of  such  events  in  advance. 

It  was  about  three  hundred  years  after  Christ  that  Buddhism 
found  entrance  to  Korea  from  China.  Envoys  from  the  various 
states  in  Korea  met  representatives  of  this  cult  at  the  court  of 
China,  and,  as  it  was  exceedingly  popular  there,  the  kings  of 
the  Korean  realms  asked  that  monks  be  sent  to  teach  the  tenets 
of  the  new  religion  here.  One  of  the  most  celebrated  of  these 
was  one  Mararanta,  whose  name  savours  more  of  India  than  of 


74 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


China.  It  may  be  that  he  was  an  Indian  who  had  come  to 
China  to  teach  Buddhism,  but  was  transferred  to  Korea.  At 
any  rate,  the  Korean  people  accepted  the  new  cult  eagerly,  and 
Buddhism  flourished.  Not,  however,  without  occasional  set- 
backs, for  there  were  periodical  lapses  from  it  when  the  monks 
were  killed  and  the  monasteries  destroyed.  The  tales  which 
have  been  woven  about  these  events  fill  the  pages  of  Korean 
folk-lore. 

From  very  early  times  there  was  some  sort  of  communica- 
tion between  Silla  and  Japan,  but  curiously  enough  it  was  with 
Pakche,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  peninsula,  that  the  Japanese 
were  most  friendly.  Japanese  tradition  says  that  the  Empress 
Jingu  came  to  Korea  and  conquered  the  whole  peninsula.  There 
is  absolutely  nothing  in  Korean  annals  that  would  attest  the 
truth  of  this  statement.  Korean  history  goes  back  much  further 
than  the  Japanese,  and  if  such  an  invasion  had  taken  place  there 
would  have  been  mention  of  it  in  the  Korean  annals.  The  whole 
setting  of  the  Japanese  legend  shows  that  it  is  merely  a fanciful 
tale,  in  which  gods  and  goddesses  and  other  extra-human  agencies 
are  involved.  In  those  days  it  is  more  than  probable  that  the 
people  of  Silla  bore  the  same  relation  to  Japan,  as  regards  civ- 
ilisation, that  the  Romans  did  to  the  tribes  of  Germany;  and 
if  Koguryu  could  beat  back  an  army  of  a million  Chinese,  it  is 
hardly  to  be  believed  that  the  Empress  Jingu  conquered  the 
whole  peninsula.  Silla  was  the  centre  of  a relatively  high  civili- 
sation, and,  while  the  Korean  accounts  tell  us  very  little  about 
Korean  influence  upon  Japan,  the  Japanese  annals  indicate  that 
there  was  a continual  stream  of  advanced  ideas  and  civilising 
influences  crossing  the  straits  into  those  islands.  It  would  be 
interesting  if  we  could  believe  that  Arab  traders  touched  the 
shores  of  Korea,  but,  besides  being  intrinsically  improbable,  the 
list  of  things  they  are  said  to  have  taken  from  the  peninsula 
in  trade  shows  conclusively  that  it  is  some  other  place  that  is 
spoken  of. 

As  the  centuries  went  by,  the  animosity  that  existed  between 


THREE  BRIDGES  OF  KOREA 


(a)  Typical  foot-bridge 

(b)  The  “ Blood  Bridge”  at  Songdo 

(c)  The  only  stone  arch  bridge  in  Seoul,  700  years  old 


( 


* 


LEGENDARY  AND  ANCIENT  HISTORY  75 


the  three  kingdoms  crystallised  into  a definite  determination  on 
the  part  of  Koguryu  and  of  Pakche  to  destroy  the  other  two 
kingdoms  and  rule  supreme  in  the  peninsula.  This  was  possible 
only  with  the  help  of  China.  Silla  was  disposed  to  go  along 
quietly  and  let  the  arts  of  peace  work  out  their  ultimate  results, 
and  it  was  the  very  superiority  of  Silla  in  these  arts  that  excited 
the  jealousy  and  hatred  of  the  other  powers.  Time  and  again 
Koguryu  tried  in  vain  to  cement  a friendship  with  one  or  other 
•of  the  Chinese  dynasties,  but  always  in  vain,  for  her  own  restless 
spirit  could  not  endure  the  restraint  necessary  for  the  continu- 
ance of  such  a compact.  In  time  China  came  to  realise  that 
Koguryu  was  an  utterly  unreliable  ally.  Pakche  from  time  to 
time  made  flattering  appeals  to  China  for  aid  against  Silla  and 
Koguryu,  but  the  Chinese  were  too  sensible  to  fail  to  recognise 
the  more  sterling  qualities  of  the  peaceful  kingdom  in  the  south- 
east, and  when  it  came  to  the  final  analysis  China  sided  with 
Silla  against  the  other  two,  and  the  allied  armies  overthrew 
both  Pakche  and  Koguryu.  This  occurred  in  the  seventh  cen- 
tury of  our  era.  At  first  China  did  not  turn  the  whole  peninsula 
■over  to  Silla;  but  as  time  went  on  Silla  worked  further  and 
further  north,  until  almost  the  whole  of  the  present  territory 
of  Korea  was  in  her  hands. 

This  was  an  event  of  great  importance.  Now  for  the  first 
time  in  Korean  history  the  whole  territory  was  united  under  a 
single  sway.  It  was  the  language,  the  laws,  the  civilisation  of 
Silla  that  welded  the  Korean  people  into  a homogeneous  popu- 
lation and  laid  the  foundations  for  modern  Korea.  And  at 
about  the  same  time  there  began  that  wonderful  influx  of 
Chinese  ideas  which  have  done  so  much  to  mould  Korea  to  the 
Chinese  type.  The  introduction  and  study  of  the  Chinese  char- 
acter began  about  this  time,  and  the  teaching  of  the  Confucian 
doctrines.  The  literary  life  of  Korea  was  begun  on  the  Chinese 
foundation,  and  the  people  were  made  to  believe  that  there  was 
no  intellectual  life  possible  for  them  but  such  as  sprung  from 
Chinese  ideals.  A thousand  products  of  the  arts  and  sciences 


76 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


poured  into  the  peninsula  and  were  eagerly  adopted  by  the 
people,  and  they  caused  a very  rapid  advance  in  what  we  call 
enlightenment.  There  can  be  no  question  as  to  the  great  debt 
which  Korea  owes  to  China,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  this  was  not 
accomplished  without  causing  a certain  amount  of  harm  to  the 
Korean  people.  They  were  still  in  a formative  period.  They 
were  just  beginning  to  feel  their  own  powers,  and  at  this  very 
moment  they  were  flooded  with  the  flnished  products  of  an  older 
civilisation,  which  took  away  all  incentive  for  personal  effort. 
The  genius  of  the  people  was  smothered  at  the  start,  and  never 
have  they  recovered  from  the  intellectual  stagnation  which 
resulted  from  the  overloading  of  their  minds  with  Chinese  ideals. 
And  this  was  the  more  to  be  regretted,  because  these  Chinese 
ideals  were  by  no  means  fitted  to  the  Korean  temperament.  Ever 
since  that  day  the  Koreans  have  been  existing  in  spite  of,  rather 
than  because  of,  that  remarkable  invasion  of  Chinese  civilisa- 
tion. Look,  for  instance,  at  the  language.  Korean  is  utterly 
different  from  the  Chinese.  It  is  a highly  articulated  language, 
and  recjuires  a very  nice  adjustment  of  its  grammatical  machinery 
to  work  smoothly ; but  the  clumsy  Chinese  ideograph  came  in 
and  prevented  the  working  out  of  a phonetic  system  of  writing, 
which  would  surely  have  come.  The  Korean  people  have  made 
three  distinct  protests  against  the  imposition  of  the  Chinese  char- 
acter upon  them : once,  soon  after  its  introduction,  when  a great 
scholar,  Sulchong,  was  moved  to  make  a sort  of  diacritical  sys- 
tem, whereby  the  Chinese  text  could  be  rendered  intelligible  to 
the  Korean ; again,  in  the  latter  days  of  the  Koryu  dynasty ; 
and  again,  in  the  early  days  of  the  present  dynasty,  when  the 
native  alphabet  was  evolved.  In  spite  of  all  that  China  did  for 
Korea  by  way  of  introducing  the  products  of  civilisation,  it 
would  have  been  far  better  for  Korea  to  have  gained  these  or 
similar  things  gradually,  by  working  them  out  in  her  own  way, 
thereby  exercising  her  own  mental  powers  and  gaining  some- 
thing better  even  than  the  material  benefits  of  civilisation. 

But  it  was  not  to  be.  Chinese  law,  religion,  dress,  art,  litera- 


LEGENDARY  AND  ANCIENT  HISTORY 


77 


ture,  science  and  ethics  became  the  fashion,  and  I am  convinced 
that  from  that  day  began  the  deterioration  of  the  Korean  people, 
which  has  culminated  in  her  present  helpless  condition.  Let  us 
see  how  it  worked  from  the  very  start.  Eor  upwards  of  three 
centuries  Silla  had  the  management  of  the  whole  country,  but 
those  were  centuries  of  rapid  decline.  Luxury  sapped  the  springs 
of  her  power.  Her  court  became  contemptible,  and  at  last, 
when  the  hardy  Wang-gon  revolted  and  set  up  the  new  king- 
dom of  Koryu,  he  held  the  power  of  Silla  in  such  contempt  that 
he  would  not  even  crush  it,  but  let  it  linger  on  until  it  died  a 
natural  death.  That  lamentable  deterioration  began  with  the 
introduction  of  Chinese  ideas.  The  young  and  virile  state  was 
not  able  to  withstand  the  temptations  that  were  put  before  it. 
It  was  like  piling  sweetmeats  before  a child  who  has  not  learned 
to  use  them  in  moderation.  Silla  glutted  herself  with  them, 
and  died  of  surfeit. 


CHAPTER  V 


MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

UPON  the  founding  of  the  kingdom  of  Koryu,  with 
its  capital  at  Songdo,  a new  and  different  regime 
was  inaugurated.  There  seems  to  have  been  some- 
thing of  a reaction  against  Chinese  ideas.  From  the 
start  Koryu  was  dedicated  to  Buddhism  and  Buddhistic  thought. 
This  was  an  Indian  rather  than  a Chinese  cult,  and  it  appealed 
rather  more  strongly  to  the  Korean  imagination  than  did  the 
bald  materialism  of  the  Confucian  code.  It  is  on  this  theory 
alone  that  we  can  account  for  the  temporary  rehabilitation  of 
Korean  virility.  So  long  as  Buddhism  was  held  within  bounds, 
and  was  the  servant  rather  than  the  master,  the  Koryu  state 
flourished.  The  people  began  in  a gradual  way  to  assimilate 
.some  of  the  material  for  thought  which  the  Chinese  intellectual 
invasion  had  deposited  here,  and  out  of  it  all  the  Koreans  evolved 
a rather  nondescript,  but  still  a workable,  plan  of  national  life. 
But  erelong  it  appeared  that  the  pendulum  had  swung  too  far, 
and  their-  fanatical  adhesion  to  Buddhism  led  them  into  difficul- 
ties which  were  almost  worse  than  those  which  they  had  escaped. 
The  priesthood  encroached  more  and  more  upon  the  preroga- 
tives of  the  state,  and  assumed  more  and  more  of  the  political 
power,  until  at  last  the  king  himself  was  constrained  to  don  the 
monastic  cowl.  This  was  not  until  two  centuries  after  the  found- 
ing of  the  dynasty,  but  the  transformation  was  sure  though 
slow.  It  was  during  this  time  that  Japan  received  such  an 
impetus  in  the  direction  of  Buddhism.  She  obtained  large  num- 
bers of  books  and  vestments  and  other  ritualistic  necessities  from 
Koryu,  and  it  is  probable  that  a number  of  Korean  monks  went 
•to  Japan  to  teach  the  cult.  There  is  very  little  mention  of  this 


MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 


79 


In  the  Korean  annals,  for  during  all  this  time  Japan  was  con- 
sidered, as  she  doubtless  was,  a very  inferior  state;  but  in  the 
Japanese  accounts  we  find  acknowledgment  of  the  help  which 
the  Japanese  received  from  this  source.  The  Japanese  temples 
.and  shrines  contain  numerous  Buddhist  relics  that  were  obtained 
in  Korea.  It  may  be  that  some  of  these  were  taken  at  the  time 
•of  the  great  invasioxi  of  1592,  but  more  of  them  doubtless  went 
to  Japan  at  the  earlier  date. 

There  is  no  evidence  at  all  to  show  that  Korea  was  subject 
in  any  way  to  Japan,  and  there  is  not  a shred  of  proof  to  uphold 
the  claim  that  Korea  was  tributary  to  that  power.  In  fact,  there 
is  very  much  to  prove  the  contrary.  During  a large  part  of 
most  of  this  dynasty  the  shores  of  Korea  were  devastated  by 
Japanese  corsairs,  and  the  government  was  constantly  fighting 
them.  It  is  impossible  that  there  could  have  been  any  sort  of 
rapport  between  the  two  countries  while  these  things  were  going 
on.  An  occasional  messenger  came  to  ask  for  Buddhist  books 
•or  relics,  but  as  for  any  regular  diplomatic  communication,  it  is 
not  at  all  probable.  Nor  does  Koryu  seem  to  have  had  much  to 
do  with  China  up  to  the  time  of  the  Mongol  invasion,  which  did 
not  come  until  near  the  end  of  the  dynasty.  The  kings  of  Koryu 
•doubtless  considered  themselves  vassals  of  China,  and  sent  occa- 
sional envoys  to  the  Chinese  court ; but  the  yoke  was  a very 
light  one,  and  was  never  felt.  It  fact  it  was,  if  anything,  a 
benefit,  for  when  Koryu  got  into  difficulties  on  any  side,  it  was 
•of  considerable  value  to  her  to  be  able  to  refer  to  China  as  her 
patron. 

During  the  first  three  centuries  of  Koryu’s  power  there  was 
a gradual  evolution  of  a social  system,  based  mainly  upon 
Chinese  ideas,  modified  by  Buddhistic  precepts.  The  national 
examination  became  a fixture,  though  it  presented  some  unim- 
])ortant  contrasts  to  the  Chinese  system.  It  is  this  institution 
that  must  answer  for  the  absence  of  any  such  martial  spirit  as 
that  which  Japan  displayed.  The  literary  element  became  the 
leading  element  in  the  government,  and  scholarship  the  only 


8o 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


passport  to  official  position.  The  soldier  dropped  to  a place 
inferior  to  that  of  any  other  reputable  citizen,  and  from  that 
time  to  this  the  soldier  in  Korea,  as  in  China,  has  been  con- 
sidered but  one  step  above  the  beggar.  No  one  would  think  of 
adopting  the  profession  of  a soldier  if  he  could  find  anything 
else  to  do.  The  complete  absence  of  any  form  of  feudalism 
had  something  to  do  with  this.  Korea  became  welded  together 
as  a single  state  at  such  an  early  date  that  no  opportunity  was 
given  for  the  rise  of  feudalism.  Whatever  may  have  been  the 
reason,  we  find  that  Korea  never  passed  through  this  necessary 
stage  which  leads  to  enlightened  government.  The  faulty  induc- 
tion has  sometimes  been  drawn  that  for  this  reason  Koreans 
are  without  patriotism;  but,  if  we  come  to  think  of  it,  it  is  not 
necessarily  a sign  of  lack  of  love  for  country  that  people  will 
not  take  up  arms  and  kill  in  its  defence.  That  there  are  certain 
animals  to  which  nature  has  not  given  the  instinct  to  fight  in 
defence  of  their  young  is  not  conclusive  proof  that  those  animals 
do  not  love  their  young. 

Although  for  the  most  part  Buddhism  controlled  the  issues 
of  the  dynasty,  and  that  cult  flourished  until  the  law  was  pro- 
iTudgated  that  every  third  son  must  take  the  cowl,  yet  there 
was  always  a remnant  of  opposition  left,  and  from  time  to  time 
this  flared  up  and  created  widespread  disturbances.  Not  infre- 
quently it  resulted  in  horrible  massacres,  in  which  whole  cabi- 
nets were  ruthlessly  put  to  the  sword.  But  in  ever}'  case  the 
Buddhist  element  came  to  the  top  again  and  exacted  fearful 
revenge. 

The  country  was  filled  with  monasteries,  which  became  the 
schools  of  literature,  art  and  even  war;  for  we  find  that,  con- 
trary to  the  custom  in  Europe  in  the  Middle  Ages,  the  science  of 
war  was  frequently  taught  by  the  monks.  It  became  even  more 
true  of  Korea  than  of  Europe  that  the  monasteries  became  the 
repositories  of  all  that  was  best  in  science,  art  and  literature. 
The  splendid  buildings  and  shrines,  the  beautifull}  carved 
pagodas  and  the  gorgeous  vestments  of  the  spectacular  ritual 


MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 


8i 


gave  to  Koreans  the  only  canons  of  art  that  they  possessed.  The 
leisure  of  the  monastic  life  fostered  such  little  literature  as  they 
enjoyed,  and  on  the  whole  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  in 
time  the  kings  came  to  wish  that  they  were  monks  too,  and  that 
some  of  them  actually  went  so  far  as  to  take  the  tonsure. 

Korea  to-day  is  full  of  relics  of  those  times.  There  are  thou- 
sands of  monasteries  throughout  the  land,  many  of  them  falling 
to  pieces,  but  still  showing  remains  of  former  grandeur.  These 
were  built  on  the  most  beautiful  sites  in  the  land,  and  this  alone 
would  be  sufficient  to  show  that  the  monks  had  an  eye  to  art. 
There  are  many  moss-grown  pagodas  and  other  monuments  on 
which  one  can  spell  out  in  Chinese  characters,  or  more  often  in 
Thibetan  characters,  the  record  of  past  glories. 

Strange  to  say,  the  institution  of  slavery  grew  to  great  pro- 
portions in  Koryu  days.  We  say  strange,  because  such  a class 
of  society  is  not  recognised  by  Buddhism  usually.  Slavery  was 
made  the  punishment  for  many  misdemeanours,  and  the  ranks 
of  slaves  were  swelled  to  such  proportions  and  they  were  treated 
so  badly,  that  on  more  than  one  occasion  they  arose  in  revolt  and 
were  put  down  only  after  thousands  had  been  killed. 

One  of  the  most  curious  customs  of  Koryu  was  that  the  kings 
always  took  their  own  sisters  to  wife.  This  has  its  parallel  in 
Egypt  under  certain  of  the  dynasties.  The  idea  seems  to  have 
been  to  keep  the  royal  blood  as  clear  from  plebeian  strain  as 
possible;  but,  of  course,  it  defeated  its  own  purpose,  for  in  time 
the  kings  of  Koryu  became  practically  imbeciles,  at  least  so 
feeble  in  mind  that  they  were  the  mere  tools  of  designing  monks, 
who  exerted  for  the  time  being  all  the  powers  of  royalty.  Time 
would  fail  to  tell  of  half  the  plots  and  counterplots,  poisonings, 
stabbings,  stranglings  and  every  other  form  of  murder  and 
sudden  death  that  deface  the  annals  of  Koryu.  It  is-  no  wonder 
that  when  the  time  came  for  a new  dynasty  to  ascend  the  throne 
the  whole  Buddhist  system,  which  was  mainly  to  blame  for  the 
shameful  state  of  affairs,  was  outlawed,  and  no  Buddhist  monk 
was  allowed  to  enter  the  gate  of  the  capital. 


82 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


The  first  century  of  the  dynasty  saw  the  sowing  of  the  seeds 
of  evil  which  were  to  spring  up  and  bear  such  disastrous  fruit; 
but  the  nation  was  a virile  one  as  yet,  and  under  stress  of  circum- 
stances could  summon  a formidable  army  in  her  own  defence. 
This  was  seen  when,  early  in  the  eleventh  century,  the  semi- 
savage people  of  Kitan  in  the  north  — one  of  those  hordes 
which  periodically  have  swarmed  southward  from  the  iSIan- 
churian  plains  — came  across  the  Yalu,  expecting  to  carry  every- 
thing before  them.  In  this  they  were  sadly  disappointed ; for 
though  at  the  first  considerable  disorder  existed  in  the  country, 
the  people  rallied,  put  an  army  of  some  two  hundred  thousand 
men  into  the  field,  and  soon  had  the  half-naked  plunderers  in  full 
retreat.  Kitan  tried  for  a time  to  assert  herself  in  the  peninsula, 
but  never  with  success.  She  built  a bridge  across  the  Yalu  and 
successfully  defended  it,  but  Koryu  retaliated  by  building  a wall 
clear  across  the  peninsula  from  the  Yellow  Sea  to  the  Japan  Sea. 
Remains  of  this  can  be  seen  to-day  in  the  vicinity  of  Yong-byun. 
It  was  twenty-fi^•e  feet  high  and  two  hundred  miles  long.  This 
period  marks  the  summit  of  Koryu’s  power  and  wealth.  She 
had  reached  her  zenith  within  a century  and  a quarter  of  her 
birth,  and  the  next  three  centuries  are  the  story  of  her  decline 
and  fall.  To  show  the  power  that  Buddhism  exercised  at  this 
time  we  have  but  to  give  a single  paragraph  of  detail. 

In  1065  the  King’s  son  cut  his  hair  and  became  a Buddhist 
monk.  A law  was  promulgated  forbidding  the  killing  of  any 
animal  for  a period  of  three  full  years.  A monastery  was  built 
in  the  capital,  consisting  of  twenty-eight  hundred  kan,  each  eight 
feet  square.  This  gave  a floor  space  of  nearly  one  hundred  and 
eighty  thousand  square  feet,  the  equivalent  of  a building  a third 
of  a mile  long  and  a hundred  feet  wide.  It  required  twehe 
years  to  complete  it.  A magnificent  festival  marked  its  opening, 
at  which  thousands  of  monks  from  all  over  the  country  par- 
ticipated. The  feasting  lasted  five  days.  There  was  a magnifi- 
cent awning  of  pure  silk,  which  formed  a covered  passage-way 
from  the  palace  to  this  monastery.  iMountains  and  forests  were 


RUINS  OF  “GOLDEN  PAGODA”  BAS-RELIEF  ON  DOOR  OF  ANCIENT  ASTRONOMICAL  OBSERVATORY 

ANCIENT  SILLA  SILLA  PAGODA  OF  ANCIENT  SILLA 


MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 


83 


represented  by  lanterns  massed  together.  In  this  monastery 
there  was  a pagoda  on  which  one  hundred  and  forty  pounds  of 
gold  and  four  hundred  and  twenty-seven  pounds  of  silver  were 
la\'ished.  This  almost  rivals  the  luxury  of  decadent  Rome. 

The  next  century  or  more  passes  without  event  of  special 
note,  except  the  publication  of  the  great  historical  work,  “ His- 
tory of  the  Three  Kingdoms.”  These  were  Silla,  Pakche  and 
Koguryu.  The  great  scholar  Kim  Pu-sik  collected  all  the  data 
and  reduced  it  to  historical  form,  and  that  book  has  been  the 
basis  of  every  history  of  ancient  Korea  from  that  day  to  this. 

With  the  opening  of  the  thirteenth  century  we  come  to  the 
beginning  of  the  IMongol  power,  and  it  was  in  1231  that  the 
Golden  Horde  of  Genghis  Khan  screamed  their  insulting  sum- 
mons across  the  Yalu.  Some  attempt  was  made  to  stop  this 
mighty  aAalanche  of  men,  but  Koryu’s  strength  was  not  what  it 
had  been ; luxury  had  bitten  too  deep.  The  Mongols  swept 
southward  to  the  capital.  The  craven  King  fled  to  the  island  of 
Kang-wha  in  the  mouth  of  the  Han  River,  and  was  there  able 
to  defy  the  invaders ; for  it  is  a curious  fact,  and  one  well  worth 
noting,  that  though  that  island  is  separated  from  the  mainland 
only  by  an  estuary  half  a mile  wide,  the  Mongols  never  suc- 
ceeded in  crossing  to  it.  They  were  wholly  unacquainted  with 
boats  or  with  sea  fighting,  and  even  this  narrow  tide-way 
daunted  them.  This  island  of  Kang-wha  has  the  distinction  of 
being  the  only  spot  of  land  on  the  mainland  of  eastern  Asia  ( for 
it  was  practically  the  mainland)  that  the  Mongols  never  took  by 
force  of  arms.  They  swept  southward  over  the  rest  of  the  penin- 
sula, ravaging  everywhere,  and  committing  the  utmost  excesses. 
Neither  man,  woman  nor  child  was  secure.  Never  before  had 
Korea  seen  such  devastation,  and  she  ne\'er  has  seen  such  since. 
It  is  said,  and  probably  with  some  truth,  that  half  the  entire 
population  fled  to  the  islands  of  the  archipelago,  and  left  the 
land  a wilderness.  Invasion  followed  invasion,  and  Koryu 
was  swept  as  by  recurring  waves  until  the  devastation  was 
complete. 


84 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


By  the  year  1260  the  Mongols  were  tired  of  slaughter,  and 
as  the  submission  of  Koryu  was  complete,  a Resident  was  placed 
at  the  capital,  and  the  King  was  induced  to  leave  the  island  and 
return  to  Songdo.  But  there  was  no  such  thing  as  independence. 
The  restless  and  brutal  Mongols  played  all  manner  of  childish 
tricks  with  the  government,  and  the  ^longol  garrisons  in  various 
parts  of  the  country  treated  the  people  to  horrors  worse  than 
actual  war.  It  became  at  last  unbearable,  and  the  King  sent  his 
son  to  the  Chinese  capital  to  protest  against  IMongol  methods  in 
Korea.  The  prince  found  that  things  were  unstable  in  China. 
The  Mongol  Emperor  died  and  a usurper  grasped  the  reins  of 
power.  The  prince  with  splendid  tact  hastened  southward,  and 
was  the  first  to  warn  the  heir,  who  was  none  other  than  the  great 
Kublai  Khan,  that  his  succession  was  disputed.  By  reason  of 
this  timely  warning  the  Mongol  prince  was  enabled  by  forced 
marches  to  fall  suddenly  upon  the  forces  of  the  usurper  and 
disperse  them.  Coming  to  his  capital  in  triumph,  he  heaped 
favours  on  the  Korean  prince  and  granted  him  all  he  asked  for 
his  own  country.  The  obnoxious  troops  were  withdrawn  from 
the  peninsula,  and  an  era  of  good-will  and  peaceful  intercourse 
followed. 

It  was  in  1265  that  the  idea  of  invading  Japan  first  formed 
itself  in  the  brain  of  the  iMongol  conqueror.  He  first  sent  envoys 
to  Japan,  accompanied  by  Korean  envoys,  demanding  that  Japan 
swear  allegiance  to  the  IMongol  power.  They  were  treated  with 
marked  disrespect  at  the  Japanese  capital,  forbidden  to  enter  the 
gates  of  the  city,  provided  with  miserable  food,  made  to  wait  for 
months  without  an  answer,  and  finally  dismissed  without  a word 
of  reply  to  the  pompous  summons  of  the  world-conqueror  in 
China.  Kublai  Khan  was  not  the  sort  of  man  to  relish  this,  and 
he  immediately  resolved  upon  the  invasion.  He  knew  he  had 
no  boats,  and  that  his  people  knew  nothing  about  navigation; 
so  he  sent  to  Korea,  demanding  that  she  furnish  a thousand 
boats  to  carry  the  army  of  invasion  across  the  straits.  Korea 
was  also  ordered  to  furnish  four  thousand  bags  of  rice  and  a 


MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 


85 

contingent  of  forty  thousand  troops.  It  took  time  to  do  this, 
and  all  sorts  of  vexatious  delays  occurred,  so  that  it  was  not  until 
1273  that  the  army  was  ready  to  take  boat  across  the  straits,  and 
then  it  numbered  only  twenty-five  thousand  men;  so  slightingly 
did  the  Mongol  conqueror  gauge  the  prowess  of  the  Japanese. 
The  expedition  ended  as  might  have  been  expected.  Nine  hun- 
dred boats  sailed  from  the  Korean  coast,  and  fifteen  thousand 
Korean  soldiers  went  as  auxiliaries.  After  taking  a thousand 
Japanese  heads  on  one  of  the  undefended  islands,  the  invaders 
landed  on  the  mainland.  There  they  found  they  were  no  match 
for  the  hardy  Japanese.  They  made  their  way  back  to  their 
boats,  but  Nature  aided  the  Japanese,  and  a typhoon  wrecked 
many  of  the  vessels  and  scattered  others  far  over  the  sea.  Out 
of  a total  of  forty  thousand  men  thirteen  thousand  were  lost. 
The  vessels  finally  rendezvoused  at  an  island  in  the  Korean 
straits,  and  then  made  their  way  sadly  back  to  Korea. 

But  the  Emperor  was  quite  unconvinced.  He  could  not 
imagine  the  Japanese  attempting  to  withstand  his  will,  and  set 
down  the  defeat  of  his  army  to  a panic  or  some  other  extraneous 
cause.  He  soon  began  the  welding  of  another  bolt  to  launch 
at  the  island  empire.  This  was  ready  in  1282,  and  consisted  of 
fifty  thousand  Mongol  regulars,  one  hundred  thousand  from 
the  allied  tribes,  and  twenty  thousand  and  seventy  Koryu  auxil- 
iaries. This  was  indeed  a formidable  force,  and  rightly  handled 
might  have  made  trouble  even  for  Japan ; but  as  fortune  would 
have  it,  a great  storm  arose  in  their  rear  as  they  approached  the 
mainland  of  Japan,  and  as  all  the  thousand  boats  made  at  once 
for  the  mouth  of  the  harbor,  they  jammed  in  the  offing  and 
foundered,  grinding  ships  and  men  in  one  great  mill  of  slaughter. 
It  is  said  that  one  could  walk  across  from  one  point  of  land  to 
the  other  upon  the  solid  pile  of  wreckage.  Thus  were  upwards 
of  one  hundred  thousand  men  done  to  death  without  a stroke 
being  made  by  the  Japanese.  It  must  have  been  a wonderful  and 
awe-inspiring  spectacle.  Of  those  who  perished  thus  miserably, 
eight  thousand  were  Koryu  men.  Those  in  the  rear,  being  thus 


86 


THE  PASSLXG  OF  KOREA 


warned,  turned  and  made  their  way  home.  Even  then  the  Em- 
peror would  not  give  up,  but  set  in  motion  new  plans  for  the 
invasion  of  Japan.  This  wish  was  not  to  be  gratified.  A year 
later  it  became  apparent  to  him  that  Koryu  had  been  squeezed 
to  the  very  limit,  and  the  terrible  privations  of  his  own  troops 
led  him  to  change  his  mind.  It  must  have  been  a bitter  hour 
for  him. 

The  last  century  of  the  Koryu  dynasty  was  one  swift  fall 
into  worse  and  worse  excesses,  until  the  end.  One  King  was  so 
unspeakably  infamous  that  the  Mongol  Emperor  sent  for  him; 
and  when  he  arrived  at  the  Mongol  court  the  Emperor  said,  “ I 
put  you  on  the  throne  of  Koryu,  but  you  have  done  nothing  but 
tear  the  skin  off  your  subjects.  Though  your  blood  be  fed  to 
all  the  dogs  of  the  world,  justice  would  hardly  be  satisfied.” 
The  Emperor  then  placed  him  on  a bier,  and  in  this  most  dis- 
graceful fashion  he  was  carried  away  into  banishment  to  western 
China. 

In  1361  occurred  another  of  those  periodical  invasions  from 
the  north.  This  time  it  was  by  the  Hong-du,  or  “ Red  Heads,” 
— a wild  robber  tribe.  They  came  across  the  Yalu  like  locusts, 
and  swarmed  over  the  country.  The  army  could  do  nothing  with 
them,  and  soon  they  surrounded  the  capital,  from  which  the 
King  had  fled.  There  they  turned  cannibal  and  carried  on  fright- 
ful orgies,  while  in  another  part  of  the  country  the  great  Yi 
T’a-jo,  who  was  destined  to  found  a new  dynasty,  was  trying 
to  whip  into  shape  the  demoralised  army  of  Koryu.  This  he 
did,  and  before  long  they  had  the  “ Red  Heads  ” on  the  run. 
These  were  also  the  years  when  the  coast  of  Korea  was  con- 
tinually harried  by  Japanese  corsairs.  No  one  knew  at  what 
point  they  would  appear  next,  and  so  no  preparation  could  be 
made  to  receive  them.  At  first  these  raids  were  confined  to  the 
eastern  coast,  but  gradually  they  extended  around  to  the  western 
side,  and  came  north  as  far  as  the  present  Chemulpo.  On  one 
occasion  they  ravaged  the  island  of  Kang-wha,  and  even  landed 
in  Whang-ha  Province,  near  the  capital.  So  desperate  did  the 


THE  MARBLE  PAGODA  IN  SEOUL  A BUDDHIST  RELIC  IN  THE  SOUTH 


MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 


87 


situation  become  at  last,  that  the  King  was  obliged  to  order  that 
all  the  coast  villages  be  moved  inland  ten  miles,  so  that  the 
marauders  should  find  nothing  to  loot.  This  was  done,  and  it  is 
said  that  it  is  for  this  reason  that  the  coast  of  Korea  looks  so 
barren  and  uninhabited  even  to  this  day. 

Several  of  the  kings  took  Mongol  princesses  for  their  wives, 
and  these  women,  imitating  the  example  of  Jezebel,  made  them- 
selves unmitigated  nuisances.  They  knew  they  had  behind  them 
the  Mongol  emperors,  and  their  lawless  freaks  and  escapades 
scandalised  the  people.  The  magnificent  marble  pagoda  that 
stands  in  the  centre  of  Seoul  to-day  was  a gift  from  one  of  the 
Mongol  emperors  to  his  daughter,  the  Queen  of  Koryu.  The 
intention  was  to  erect  it  at  Songdo,  the  capital ; but  when  it  came 
from  China  by  boat,  it  was  found  too  heavy  to  carry  overland 
to  that  town;  so  it  was  brought  up  the  Han  River  and  erected 
in  Han-yang,  the  present  Seoul. 

It  is  a curious  fact  that  the  Mongols  still  held  the  island  of 
Quelpart,  and  used  it  as  a breeding-place  for  horses;  and  when 
the  fall  of  the  Mongol  power  became  imminent,  and  the  last 
Emperor  saw  that  he  was  to  be  driven  from  his  capital,  he  deter- 
mined to  make  this  island  his  asylum,  and  sent  an  enormous 
amount  of  treasure  there  for  his  future  use.  Such  at  least  is  the 
statement  found  in  the  Korean  annals.  When  the  time  came, 
however,  he  was  unable  to  make  good  his  escape  in  this  direction, 
but  had  to  flee  northward. 

As  the  fourteenth  century  neared  its  close,  there  were  two 
men  in  Korea  worthy  of  note.  One  was  a monk  named  Sindon, 
who  was,  so  far  as  we  can  learn,  a Korean  counterpart  of 
Arbaces  in  Bulwer  Lytton’s  greatest  novel.  He  had  the  King 
completely  under  his  thumb,  or  “ in  his  sleeve,”  as  Koreans  would 
say.  There  was  no  heir  apparent  to  the  throne,  and  the  baseness 
of  the  King  was  so  abject  that  this  Sindon  made  him  take  to  wife 
a concubine  of  his  own,  who  was  already  pregnant  by  him, 
hoping  thus  to  see  his  own  son  on  the  throne.  The  enormities 
of  this  man  exceed  belief  and  cannot  be  transcribed.  He  was 


/ 


88 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


the  consummate  flower  of  Buddhism  in  Korea,  and  the  people 
of  this  land,  at  least  the  intelligent  portion  of  them,  have  ever 
since  pointed  to  Sindon  as  being  a legitimate  product  of  the  cult. 
The  other  person  was  General  Yi,  whom  we  have  already  men- 
tioned. He  was  of  excellent  family,  and  had  risen  by  his  own 
merits  to  the  leading  position  in  the  Koryu  army.  His  prowess 
against  the  Japanese  raiders,  whom  he  had  severely  chastised 
on  various  occasions,  made  him  the  idol  of  the  army;  and  as 
the  baneful  influence  of  Sindon  increased  at  court,  the  people 
began  to  look  at  General  Yi  as  a possible  saviour.  As  for  himself, 
he  had  no  thought  of  usurping  the  throne.  Nor  would  he  have 
done  so  except  for  the  suicidal  action  of  the  King.  That  semi- 
imbecile took  it  into  his  head  that  it  would  be  a good  thing  to 
invade  China,  where  the  powerful  Ming  dynasty  was  already 
starting  out  on  its  glorious  course.  General  Yi  was  ordered  to 
lead  the  little  army  across  the  Yalu  and  attack  the  Celestial 
Empire.  The  mouse  against  the  lion!  This  was  too  much 
even  for  General  Yi’s  loyalty,  but  as  yet  he  meditated  nothing 
against  the  King’s  person.  He  knew  where  the  difficulty  lay. 
He  was  given  his  choice  to  lead  the  army  against  China  or  be 
executed.  He  appeared  to  comply,  and  led  the  army  as  far  as 
one  of  the  islands  in  the  Yalu,  and  there  addressing  them,  he 
asked  if  they  were  not  of  the  opinion  that  it  would  be  better  to 
go  back  to  Songdo  and  clean  out  the  dissolute  court  than  to  attack 
their  great  patron,  against  whom  they  had  not  the  semblance  of 
a charge.  The  army  applauded  the  move,  and  the  return  march 
commenced.  The  court  was  thunder-struck.  The  capital  was 
in  confusion.  But  their  eyes  were  opened  too  late.  The  stern 
leader  forced  the  gates  and  took  up  the  work  of  reform  with 
vigour.  Sindon  was  banished  and  then  killed.  Scores  of  the 
worst  officials  were  sent  to  their  account,  and  the  King  was 
deprived  of  all  his  flatterers.  This  helpless  individual  was  not 
actually  forced  to  abdicate,  but  he  saw  the  logic  of  the  situation 
and  gracefully  lay  down  the  sceptre.  Only  one  thing  had  stood 
in  the  way  of  this.  There  was  one  good  man  still  living  in 


MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 


89 


Songdo,  a great  scholar  and  a highly  respected  official.  It  was 
Ch5ng  Mong-ju.  He  was  the  only  rock  that  blocked  the  way,  — 
the  only  excuse  for  the  continued  existence  of  the  Koryu  dynasty. 
The  third  son  of  General  Yi  was  ambitious  that  his  father 
should  mount  the  throne;  and  seeing  how  things  lay,  he  deter- 
mined to  cut  the  gordian  knot.  This  famous  scholar  was  invited 
to  a dinner,  and  on  his  way  home  at  night  he  was  struck  down 
and  murdered  on  a stone  bridge  near  the  city  wall.  That  bridge 
exists  to-day,  and  on  it  is  a dark  red  blotch  which  becomes  blood- 
red  in  the  rain.  Tradition  says  it  is  the  blood  of  Chong  Mong-ju, 
which  Heaven  will  never  permit  to  be  washed  away.  The  annals 
say  that  General  Yi  mourned  this  crime ; but  we  may  be  permitted 
to  have  our  doubts,  especially  in  view  of  the  fact  that  he  took 
advantage  of  it  and  allowed  himself  to  be  made  king.  Thus 
fell  the  kingdom  of  Koryu  after  a life  of  four  hundred  and 
seventy-five  years. 


CHAPTER  VI 


THE  GOLDEN  AGE  OF  KOREA  AND  THE 
JAPANESE  INVASION 

IT  is  probable  that  there  was  never  a peaceful  revolution 
that  was  followed  by  more  radical  changes  than  the  one 
whereby  the  Kingdom  of  Koryu  fell  and  the  present 
dynasty  began.  In  the  first  place  the  capital  was  changed 
from  Songdo.  This  in  itself  was  not  remarkable,  for  the  site 
of  the  capital  is  always  changed  with  the  change  of  dynasty; 
but  when  we  note  that  the  people  and  officials  of  Songdo  were 
debarred  the  privilege  of  residing  at  the  new  seat  of  govern- 
ment, we  see  what  a sweeping  change  was  contemplated.  Han- 
yang had  long  been  looked  upon  as  the  probable  capital  of  a 
new  dynasty.  In  fact  it  had  been  made  the  secondary  capital 
of  Koryu.  Prophecy  had  foretold  that  it  would  become  the 
capital  of  a new  kingdom,  founded  by  a man  named  Yi.  The 
Chinese  character  for  this  word  is  formed  by  placing  the  char- 
acter for  child  below  the  character  for  wood,  and  the  whole 
means  “ plum-tree.”  The  superstitious  King  of  Koryu  had 
thought  to  injure  the  prospects  of  the  Yi  family,  therefore,  by 
planting  the  town  of  Han-yang  with  plum-trees,  and  then  root- 
ing them  up.  The  trick  did  not  work,  and  in  the  year  1392  the 
new  kingdom  was  inaugurated.  It  was  ordered  to  build  a wall 
about  the  new  capital,  and  one  hundred  and  ninety  thousand 
men  worked  for  two  months  in  the  spring  and  ninety  thousand 
more  worked  for  an  equal  time  in  the  autumn,  and  completed 
the  stupendous  work  of  building  a wall  twenty  feet  high  and 
nine  miles  in  length,  surmounted  with  a battlement  and  embra- 
sures, and  pierced  by  eight  massive  gates.  The  palace  that  was 
first  built  was  the  Kyong-bok  Palace.  A celebrated  monk  named 


THE  JAPANESE  INVASION 


91 


Mu-hak  is  said  to  have  advised  that  it  be  built  upon  a different 
site  from  the  one  determined  upon,  and  declared  that  if  his 
advice  was  not  followed  the  country  would  suffer  a terrible  war 
in  just  two  centuries.  His  advice  was  not  taken,  and  the  Jap- 
anese invasion  was  the  fulfilment  of  his  prophecy ! 

The  cardinal  principle  upon  which  this  radical  revolution 
was  based  was  the  necessity  of  freeing  the  country  from  the 
baneful  influence  of  Buddhism.  Yet  the  new  ruler  was  wise 
enough  to  see  that  even  this  must  be  accomplished  with  modera- 
tion and  tact.  There  was  no  great  persecution  in  which  thou- 
sands of  people  were  massacred.  The  change  of  the  capital  and 
the  appointment  of  an  entirely  new  officiary,  in  which  Buddhist 
ideas  were  not  at  all  represented,  was  a long  step  in  the  right 
direction.  It  set  the  fashion,  and  the  Buddhist  element  accepted 
the  decision  as  final.  We  hear  of  no  attempt  being  made  to 
reinstate  the  Buddhist  hierarchy  in  their  former  place  of  power. 
Gradually  other  laws  were  passed  depriving  Buddhist  monks  of 
various  privileges.  They  were  disfranchised  and  forbidden  to 
enter  the  gates  of  the  capital  on  pain  of  death.  Immense  tracts 
of  land  that  had  been  absorbed  by  the  powerful  monasteries  were 
taken  from  them  and  given  back  to  the  people.  But  it  would 
be  a mistake  to  think  that  Buddhism  lost  its  influence  upon  the 
people.  Its  political  power  was  gone,  but  by  far  the  greater 
part  of  the  populace  still  remained  Buddhists,  and  it  was  only 
during  the  lapse  of  centuries  that  the  monasteries  fell  to  the 
decadent  state  in  which  we  now  find  them.  The  very  fact  that 
Korea  is  still  filled  with  them,  and  that  funds  can  be  found  to 
keep  them  in  any  sort  of  condition,  proves  that  Buddhism  is 
not  even  yet  in  a moribund  condition.  The  mysticism  of  the 
cult  had  taken  too  deep  a hold  upon  the  Korean  temperament 
to  be  thrown  off  with  ease,  and  it  gradually  became  assimilated 
with  the  nature  worship  and  fetichism  of  the  country,  until 
to-day  the  whole  forms  a conglomerate  in  which  the  ingredients 
are  indistinguishable.  No  Korean  perhaps  ever  grasped  the  idea 
of  esoteric  Buddhism  or  worked  out  the  philosophy  of  the  thing. 


92 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


It  may  have  been  largely  because  he  did  not  know  what  it  all 
meant  that  he  liked  it. 

The  Ming  Emperor  had  been  led  to  look  with  suspicion  upon 
Korea,  because  of  the  queer  antics  of  the  last  kings  of  the  Koryu 
dynasty,  and  when  he  heard  of  the  startling  change  he  sent  ask- 
ing why  General  Yi  had  usurped  the  throne.  A celebrated  scholar 
was  sent  to  the  Chinese  court,  and  when  the  Emperor  learned 
the  facts  he  was  well  satisfied,  and  cemented  a friendship  with 
Korea  which  lasted  without  interruption  until  the  iManchu  hordes 
struck  down  the  Ming  power. 

The  first  half  of  the  fifteenth  century  was  characterised  by 
a series  of  marvellous  advances  in  eveiy  sphere  of  life  in  Korea. 
One  of  the  earliest  kings  determined  to  secure  for  the  people  a 
phonetic  alphabet,  in  order  that  they  might  be  freed  from  the 
necessity  of  learning  the  Chinese  character.  A commission  was 
appointed  -which,  after  long  and  careful  investigation,  evolved 
an  alphabet  which,  for  simplicity  of  construction  and  phonetic 
power,  has  not  its  superior  in  the  world.  The  consonants  are  all 
simplifications  of  the  Thibetan  consonants,  which  are  of  course 
Sanscrit  in  character,  and  the  vowels  are  all  taken  from  the 
simplest  strokes  of  the  ancient  “ seal  character  ” of  China.  It 
was  a work  of  genius,  and  might  have  been  of  incalculable  bene- 
fit to  the  people  had  not  the  Chinese  character  been  so  firmly 
fixed  upon  them  that  change  was  practically  impossible.  Such 
a change  must  begin  with  the  educated  class,  but  the  very  diffi- 
culty of  learning  the  Chinese  was  a barrier  between  the  upper 
and  lower  classes,  and  to  have  let  down  this  barrier  by  the 
encouragement  of  a popular  alphabet  would  have  been  to  forego 
their  claims  to  exclusive  consideration.  The  caste  feeling  was 
too  strong,  and  the  alphabet  was  relegated  to  women,  as  being 
beneath  the  dignity  of  a gentleman.  A terrible  wrong  was  done 
to  the  people  by  this  act,  and  the  generov:s  motive  of  the  King 
was  frustrated.  About  the  same  time  the  King  ordered  the  cast- 
ing of  metal  printing-types.  These  were  the  first  movable  metal 
printing-types  ever  made,  and  anticipated  their  manufacture  in 


THE  JAPANESE  INVASION  93 

Europe  by  fifty  years.  A few  samples  of  the  ancient  types  still 
survive. 

The  dropping  of  Buddhistic  ideals  in  government  was  like 
the  dropping  of  sand-bags  from  a balloon,  and  the  rebound  was 
marvellous,  proving  that  there  was  still  a splendid  virility  in  the 
Korean  people.  Art,  literature,  science,  economics,  agriculture 
and  every  other  form  of  human  activity  felt  the  impulse,  and 
before  long  the  former  degraded  condition  of  the  people  was 
transformed.  The  most  admirable  thing  about  all  this  change 
was  the  moderation  which  marked  it.  There  was  no  attempt 
to  force  changes  in  advance  of  public  opinion,  but  the  changes 
went  hand  in  hand  with  education.  The  whole  of  the  century 
beheld  a continued  advance.  Great  literary  works  were  published, 
monasteries  were  turned  into  schools,  the  system  of  taxation  was 
made  more  uniform,  all  sorts  of  mechanical  devices  were  in- 
vented, including  a clepsydra.  The  great  bell  was  cast  and  hung 
in  the  centre  of  Seoul,  the  land  was  at  peace  with  all  its  neigh- 
bours, and  friendly  envoys  came  from  many  contiguous  lands. 
The  piratical  raids  of  the  Japanese  stopped,  and  it  is  probable 
that,  even  as  early  as  this  time,  a trading  station  of  some  kind 
existed  at  Fusan  by  permission  of  the  Korean  government. 
Curiously  enough  the  century  closed  in  gloom,  for  a prince  of 
most  depraved  character,  the  son  of  a concubine,  came  to  the 
throne,  and  made  it  his  business  to  play  the  fool  exceedingly. 
There  was  no  excess  of  rioting  to  which  he  Avould  not  go,  and 
for  a time  he  inflicted  untold  miseries  upon  the  people;  but  he 
was  out  of  tune  with  the  times,  and  before  long  he  was  violently 
deposed  and  sent  into  banishment,  and  the  former  state  of  pros- 
perity again  prevailed. 

The  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century  witnessed  the  rise  of 
the  so-called  political  parties  of  Korea.  Before  that  time  there 
had  been  no  extensive  political  feuds,  but  now  the  officials  became 
divided  into  hostile  sets  which  warred  against  each  other  to  the 
knife.  There  were  no  great  political  opinions  or  “ platforms 
underlying  these  parties.  It  was  simply  the  fight  for  political 


94 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


preferment,  the  very  sublimation  of  the  “ spoils  system.”  This 
marked  the  beginning  of  another  period  of  retrogression. 
From  that  day  to  this  there  has  been  a steady  and  lamentable 
decline  in  political  morals,  and  the  idea  of  political  position  being 
'essential  to  the  acquisition  of  wealth  has  gained  such  a hold  of 
the  Korean  mind  that  reform  resembles  a surgical  operation 
which,  in  curing  the  disease,  bids  fair  to  kill  the  patient.  This 
war  of  factions,  in  which  the  winner  thought  nothing  of  taking 
off  the  heads  of  all  the  leaders  of  the  vanquished  party,  was 
the  first  great  cause  of  Korea’s  inability  to  make  any  headway 
against  the  Japanese  invaders. 

As  the  century  wore  on,  and  the  great  Hideyoshi  became 
Shogun  in  Japan,  the  ambitious  designs  of  that  unscrupulous 
usurper,  together  with  the  extreme  weakness  of  Korea,  made 
a combination  of  circumstances  which  boded  no  good  for  the 
peninsular  people.  A succession  of  bloody  civil  wars  had  put 
in  Hideyoshi’s  hands  an  immense  body  of  trained  veterans,  and 
the  cessation  of  war  in  Japan  left  this  army  on  his  hands  with- 
out anything  to  do.  It  could  not  well  be  disbanded,  and  it  could 
not  safely  be  kept  on  a war  footing  with  nothing  to  do.  This 
also  gave  Hideyoshi  food  for  thought,  and  he  came  to  the  con- 
clusion that  he  could  kill  several  birds  with  one  stone  by  invad- 
ing Korea.  His  main  intention  was  the  conquest  of  China. 
Korea  was  to  be  but  an  incident  along  the  way.  It  was  neces- 
sary to  make  Korea  the  road  by  which  he  should  invade  China, 
and  therefore  he  sent  an  envoy  suggesting  that,  as  he  was  about 
to  conquer  the  four  corners  of  the  earth,  Korea  should  give 
him  free  passage  through  her  territory,  or,  better  still,  should  join 
him  in  the  subjugation  of  the  Flowery  Kingdom.  To  this  the 
King  replied  that,  as  Korea  had  always  been  friendly  with  China, 
and  looked  upon  her  as  a child  upon  a parent  or  as  a younger 
brother  upon  an  elder,  she  could  not  think  of  taking  such  a 
wicked  course.  After  a considerable  interchange  of  envoys, 
Hideyoshi  became  convinced  that  there  was  nothing  to  do  but 
crush  Korea,  as  a preliminary  to  the  greater  work. 


THE  JAPANESE  INVASION 


95 


It  was  in  1592  that  Hideyoshi  launched  his  armies  at  Korea. 
He  was  unable  to  come  himself,  but  he  put  his  forces  under  the 
command  of  Hideyi  as  chief,  while  the  actual  leaders  were  Kato 
and  Konishi.  The  Korean  and  Japanese  accounts  agree  substan- 
tially in  saying  that  the  Japanese  army  consisted  of  approxi- 
mately two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  men.  They  had  five 
thousand  battle-axes,  one  hundred  thousand  long  swords,  one 
hundred  thousand  spears,  one  hundred  thousand  short  swords, 
five  hundred  thousand  daggers,  three  hundred  thousand  firearms, 
large  and  small,  but  no  cannon.  There  were  fifty  thousand 
horses.  Many  of  the  Japanese  wore  hideous  masks  with  which 
to  frighten  the  enemy,  but  it  was  the  musketry  that  did  the  work. 
The  Koreans  had  no  firearms  at  all,  and  this  enormous  discrep- 
ancy is  the  second  of  the  main  causes  of  Japanese  success.  The 
Koreans  could  not  be  expected  to  stand  against  trained  men 
armed  with  muskets. 

Korea  had  long  expected  the  invasion,  and  had  kept  China 
well  informed  of  the  plans  of  Hideyoshi  and  his  demands,  but 
when  the  blow  was  struck  it  found  Korea  unprepared.  She  had 
enjoyed  the  blessings  of  peace  so  long  that  her  army  had 
dwindled  to  a mere  posse  of  police,  and  her  generals  were  used 
simply  to  grace  their  empty  pageants.  There  may  also  have 
been  the  notion  that  Japan  was  simply  a medley  of  half-savage 
tribes,  whose  armies  could  not  be  truly  formidable.  If  so,  the 
Koreans  were  greatly  mistaken.  At  the  first  blow  it  became 
apparent  that  Korea  could  do  nothing  against  the  invaders. 
Fusan,  Tong-na,  Kim-ha,  and  the  other  towns  along  the  route 
to  Seoul  fell  in  quick  succession.  It  was  found  that  the  Japanese’ 
army  was  too  large  to  advance  by  a single  route,  especially  as 
they  had  to  live  off  the  country,  in  large  part.  So  the  army 
divided  into  three  sections : one,  led  by  General  Konishi,  came 
north  by  the  middle  road;  another,  to  the  east  of  this,  was 
led  by  General  Kato;  and  a western  one  was  led  by  General 
Kuroda. 

It  was  on  the  seventeenth  of  the  fourth  moon  that  the  ter- 


96 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


rible  news  of  the  landing  of  the  Japanese  reached  Seoul  by 
messenger,  though  the  fire  signals  flashing  from  mountain  top 
to  mountain  top  had  already  signified  that  trouble  had  broken 
out.  The  King  and  the  court  were  thrown  into  a panic,  and 
feverish  haste  was  used  in  calling  together  the  scattered  rem- 
nants of  the  army.  The  showing  was  extremely  meagre.  A 
few  thousand  men,  poorly  armed  and  entirely  lacking  in  drill, 
were  found,  but  their  leaders  were  even  worse  than  the  men. 
It  was  resolved  to  send  this  inadequate  force  to  oppose  the 
Japanese  at  the  great  Cho-ryiing,  or  “ Bird  Pass,”  where  tens  of 
men  in  defence  were  worth  thousands  in  attack.  The  doughty 
general,  Sil  Yip,  led  this  forlorn  hope,  but  ere  the  pass  was 
reached  the  gruesome  tales  of  the  Japanese  prowess  reached 
them,  and  Sil  Yip  determined  to  await  the  coming  of  the  enemy 
on  a plain,  where  he  deemed  that  the  battle-flails  of  the  Koreans 
would  do  better  execution  than  among  the  mountains.  The 
pass  was,  therefore,  undefended,  and  the  Japanese  swarmed  over, 
met  Sil  Yip  with  his  ragged  following,  swept  them  from  their 
path  and  hurried  on  toward  Seoul. 

We  must  pause  a moment  in  order  to  describe  the  Japanese 
leaders,  Kato  and  Konishi,  who  were  the  animating  spirits  of 
the  invasion.  Kato  was  an  old  man  and  a conservative.  He 
was  withal  an  ardent  Buddhist  and  a scholar  of  the  old  school. 
He  was  disgusted  that  such  a young  man  as  Konishi  was  placed 
in  joint  command  with  him.  This  Konishi  was  a new-school 
man,  young  and  clever.  He  was  a Roman  Catholic  convert,  and 
in  every  respect  the  very  opposite  of  Kato,  except  in  bravery  and 
■self-assertion.  They  proved  to  be  flint  and  steel  to  each  other. 
They  were  now  vying  with  one  another  which  would  reach 
Seoul  flrst.  Their  routes  had  been  decided  b)^  lot,  and  Konishi 
had  proved  fortunate,  but  he  had  more  enemies  to  meet  than 
Kato,  and  so  their  chances  were  about  even. 

General  Yi  II  was  the  ranking  Korean  field  officer,  and  he 
with  four  thousand  men  was  hurried  south  to  block  the  path  of 
the  Japanese  wherever  he  chanced  to  meet  them.  He  crossed 


THE  JAPANESE  INVASION 


97 


Bird  Pass  and  stationed  his  force  at  Sung-ju,  in  the  very  track 
of  the  approaching  invaders.  But  when  his  scouts  told  him  the 
numbers  and  the  armament  of  the  foe,  he  turned  and  fled  back 
up  the  pass.  This  was  bad  enough,  but  his  next  act  was  treason, 
for  he  left  the  pass  where  ten  men  could  have  held  a thousand 
in  check,  and  put  a wide  stretch  of  country  between  himself  and 
that  terrible  foe.  He  is  not  much  to  blame,  considering  the  fol- 
lowing that  he  had.  He  never  stood  up  and  attempted  to  fight 
the  Japanese,  but  fell  back  as  fast  as  they  approached. 

Konishi  with  his  forces  reached  the  banks  of  the  Han  River 
first,  but  there  were  no  boats  with  which  to  cross,  and  the 
northern  bank  was  defended  by  the  Koreans,  who  here  had  a 
good  opportunity  to  hold  the  enemy  in  check.  But  the  sight  of 
that  vast  array  was  too  much  for  the  Korean  general  in  charge, 
and  he  retreated  with  his  whole  force,  after  destroying  all  his 
engines  of  war. 

Meanwhile  Seoul  was  in  turmoil  indeed.  There  was  no  one 
to  man  the  walls,  the  people  were  in  a panic  of  fear,  messengers 
were  running  wildly  here  and  there.  Everything  was  in  con- 
fusion. Some  of  the  King’s  advisers  urged  him  to  flee  to  the 
north,  others  advised  to  stay  and  defend  the  city.  He  chose 
the  former  course,  and  on  that  summer  night,  at  the  beginning 
of  the  rainy  season,  he  made  hasty  preparations  and  fled  out 
the  west  gate  along  the  “ Peking  Road.”  Behind  him  the  city 
was  in  flames.  The  people  were  looting  the  government  store- 
houses, and  the  slaves  were  destroying  the  archives  in  Avhich 
were  kept  the  slave-deeds ; for  slaves  were  deeded  property,  like 
real  estate,  in  those  days.  The  rain  began  to  fall  in  torrents,  and 
the  royal  cortege  was  drenched  to  the  skin.  Food  had  not  been 
supplied  in  sufficient  quantities,  and  the  King  himself  had  to  go 
hungry  for  several  hours.  Seven  days  later  he  crossed  the 
Tadong  River,  and  was  safe  for  a time  in  Pyeng-yang. 

Meanwhile  the  Japanese  were  revelling  in  Seoul.  Their  great 
mistake  was  this  delay.  If  they  had  pushed  on  resolutely  and 
without  delay,  they  would  have  taken  China  unprepared,  but  they 


98 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


lingered  by  the  way  and  gave  time  for  the  preparation  of  means 
for  the  ultimate  victory  of  the  Koreans.  The  country  was 
awakening  from  the  first  stupor  of  fear,  and  loyal  men  were 
collecting  forces  here  and  there  and  drilling  them  in  hope  of 
ultimately  being  able  to  give  the  Japanese  a home  thrust.  Strong 
though  the  Japanese  army  was,  it  laboured  under  certain  diffi- 
culties. It  was  cut  off  from  its  source  of  supplies,  and  was 
living  on  the  country.  Every  man  that  died  by  disease  or  other- 
wise was  a dead  loss,  for  his  place  could  not  be  filled.  This 
inability  to  obtain  reinforcements  was  caused  by  the  loyalty  and 
the  genius  of  Admiral  Yi  Sun-sin,  a Korean  whose  name  deserves 
, to  be  placed  beside  that  of  any  of  the  world’s  great  heroes, 
y Assuming  charge  of  the  Korean  fleet  in  the  south,  he  had 
invented  a curious  iron-clad  in  the  shape  of  a tortoise.  The 
back  was  covered  with  iron  plates,  and  was  impervious  to  the 
fire  of  the  enemy.  With  his  boat  he  met  and  engaged  a Jap- 
anese fleet,  bringing  sixty  thousand  reinforcements  to  Hideyoshi’s 
army.  With  his  swift  tortoise-boat  he  rammed  the  smaller 
Japanese  craft  right  and  left,  and  soon  threw  the  whole  fleet 
into  confusion.  Into  the  struggling  mass  he  threw  fire-arrows, 
and  a terrible  conflagration  broke  out,  which  destroyed  almost 
the  entire  fleet.  A few  boats  escaped  and  carried  the  news  of 
the  disaster  back  to  Japan. 

This  may  be  called  the  turning-point  in  the  war,  for,  although 
the  Japanese  forces  went  as  far  as  Pyeng-yang,  and  the  King 
had  to  seek  asylum  on  the  northern  frontier,  yet  the  spirit  of 
the  invasion  was  broken.  China,  moved  at  last  by  Korea’s 
appeals,  was  beginning  to  wake  up  to  the  seriousness  of  the  situa- 
tion, and  the  Japanese,  separated  so  long  from  their  homes  and 
entirely  cut  off  from  Japan,  were  beginning  to  be  anxious.  The 
mutual  jealousies  of  the  Japanese  leaders  also  had  their  effect, 
so  that  when  the  allied  Koreans  and  Chinese  appeared  before 
Pyeng-yang  and  began  to  storm  the  place,  the  Japanese  were 
j glad  enough  to  steal  away  by  night  and  hurry  southward.  They 
were  pursued,  and  it  was  not  till  they  had  gone  back  as  far  as 


THE  JAPANESE  INVASION 


99 


the  capital  that  they  could  rest  long  enough  to  take  breath.  It 
should  be  noted  that  China  did  not  come  to  the  aid  of  Korea 
until  the  backbone  of  the  invasion  was  practically  broken.  It 
was  a pity  that  Korea  did  not  have  an  opportunity  to  finish  off 
the  Japanese  single-handed.  With  no  hope  of  reinforcement, 
the  Japanese  army  would  have  been  glad  to  make  terms  and 
retire,  but  the  peculiar  actions  of  the  Chinese,  which  gave  rise 
to  the  suspicion  that  they  had  been  tampered  with  by  the  Jap- 
anese, gave  the  latter  ample  time  to  reach  the  southern  coast 
and  fortify  themselves  there.  The  very  presence  of  the  Chinese 
tended  to  retard  the  growth  of  that  national  spirit  among  the 
Koreans  which  led  them  to  arm  in  defence  of  their  country. 
It  might  have  been  the  beginning  of  a new  Korea,  even  as  the 
recent  war  gives  hope  of  the  beginning  of  a new  Russia,  by 
awakening  her  to  her  own  needs. 

Intrenched  in  powerful  forts  along  the  southern  coast,  the 
Japanese  held  on  for  two  full  years,  the  Koreans  swarming 
about  them  and  doing  good  service  at  guerilla  warfare.  Count- 
less are  the  stories  told  of  the  various  bands  of  patriots  that 
arose  at  this  time  and  made  life  a torment  for  the  invaders.  The 
Japanese  at  last  began  to  use  diplomacy  in  order  to  extricate 
themselves  from  their  unpleasant  position.  Envoys  passed  back 
and  forth  between  Korea  and  China  continually,  and  at  last,  in 
the  summer  of  1596,  the  Japanese  army  was  allowed  to  escape 
to  Japan.  This  was  n^^je-vous  mistake.  Konishi  was  willing- 
to  get  away  tojfai^,  because  the  redoubtable  Admiral  Yi  Sun- 
sin  was  still  alive,  and  so  long  as  he  was  on  the  sea  the  Japanese 
could  not  hope  to  bring  reinforcements  to  the  peninsula.  They 
had  lost  already  one  hundred  and  eighty  thousand  men  at  the 
hands  of  this  J^orean  Nelson,  and  they  ^ere  afraid  of  him. 

We  here  meet  with  one  of  the  results  ofpaTty~strife7  the 
seeds  of  which  had  been  sown  half  a century  earlier.  When 
the  immediate  pressure  of  war  was  removed,  the  various  success- 
ful generals  began  vilifying  each  other  and  laying  the  blame  for 
the  initial  disasters  upon  one  another.  Not  a few  of  the  very 


lOO 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


best  men  were  either  killed  or  stripped  of  honours.  Some  of 
them  retired  in  disgust,  and  refused  to  have  anything  more  to 
do  with  a government  that  was  carried  on  in  such  a way.  But 
the  most  glaring  instance  of  all  this  was  that  of  Admiral  Yi 
Sun-sin.  When  the  Japanese  went  back  to  their  own  country, 
they  began  to  plan  another  invasion,  this  time  for  the  less 
ambitious  purpose  of  punishing  Korea.  Only  one  thing  was 
necessary  to  their  success.  Admiral  Yi  must  be  gotten  out 
of  the  way.  Korean  accounts  say  that  this  was  accomplished  as 
follows. 

A Korean  who  had  attached  himself  to  the  fortunes  of  the 
Japanese  was  sent  by  the  latter  back  to  Korea,  and  he  appeared 
before  one  of  the  Korean  generals  and  offered  to  give  some 
very  important  information.  It  was  that  a Japanese  fleet  was 
coming  against  Korea,  and  it  would  be  very  necessar)^  to  send 
Admiral  Yi  Sun-sin  to  intercept  it  at  a certain  group  of  islands. 
The  King  learned  of  this,  and  immediately  ordered  the  admiral 
to  carry  out  this  work.  Admiral  Yi  replied  that  the  place  men- 
tioned was  very  dangerous  for  navigation,  and  that  it  would  be 
far  better  to  await  the  coming  of  the  Japanese  at  a point  nearer 
the  Korean  coast.  His  detractors  used  this  as  a handle,  and 
charged  him  with  treason  in  not  obeying  the  word  of  the  King. 
After  refusing  for  a second  time  to  jeopardise  his  fleet  in  this 
way,  he  was  shorn  of  office  and  degraded  to  the  ranks.  He 
obeyed  without  a murmur.  This  was  precisely  what  the  Jap- 
anese were  waiting  for.  Hearing  that  the  formidable  Yi  was 
out  of  the  way,  they  immediately  sailed  from  Japan.  The 
Korean  fleet  had  been  put  under  the  command  of  a worthless 
official,  who  fled  from  before  the  enemy,  and  thus  allowed  the 
Japanese  to  land  a second  time.  This  was  in  the  first  moon  of 
1597,  and  it  took  a thousand  boats  to  bring  the  Japanese  army. 
When  it  landed,  all  was  again  in  turmoil.  A hasty  appeal  was 
made  to  China  for  help,  and  a loud  cry  was  raised  for  the 
reinstatement  of  Admiral  Yi  Sun-sin  in  his  old  station.  This 
was  done,  and  he  soon  cut  off  the  new  army  of  invasion  from 


THE  JAPANESE  INVASION 


lOI 


its  source  of  supplies,  and  had  them  exactly  where  they  were 
before.  But  this  time  the  Japanese  army  did  not  have  its  own 
way  upon  the  land  as  in  the  former  case.  The  Koreans  had  been 
trained  to  war.  Firearms  had  been  procured,  and  their  full 
initiation  into  Japanese  methods  had  prepared  them  for  defence. 
Small  bands  of  Koreans  swarmed  about  the  Japanese,  cutting 
off  a dozen  here  and  a score  there,  until  they  were  glad  to  ' 
get  behind  the  battlements  of  their  forts.  A powerful  army  of 
the  Japanese  started  for  Seoul  by  the  western  route,  but  they 
were  met  in  Chiksan  by  the  allied  Koreans  and  Chinese,  and  so 
severely  whipped  that  they  never  again  attempted  to  march  on 
the  capital.  For  a time  the  war  dragged  on,  neither  side  scoring 
any  considerable  victories,  and  in  truth  for  part  of  the  time 
there  was  so  little  fighting  that  the  Japanese  settled  down  like 
immigrants  and  tilled  the  soil,  and  even  took  wives  from  among 
the  peasant  women.  But  in  1598  it  was  decided  that  a final 
grand  effort  must  be  made  to  rid  the  country  of  them.  The 
Japanese  knew  that  their  cause  was  hopeless,  and  they  only 
wanted  to  get  away  safely.  They  had  some  boats,  but  they 
dared  not  leave  the  shelter  of  the  guns  of  their  forts,  for  fear 
that  they  would  be  attacked  by  Admiral  Yi  Sun-sin.  They  tried 
to  bribe  the  Chinese  generals,  and  it  is  said  that  in  this  they  had 
some  success.  But  when,  relying  on  this,  they  boarded  their 
vessels  and  set  sail  for  Japan,  they  found  that  the  famous  admiral 
was  not  included  in  the  bargain,  for  he  came  out  at  them,  and, 
in  the  greatest  naval  battle  of  the  war,  destroyed  almost  the 
whole  fleet.  In  the  battle  he  was  mortally  wounded,  but  he  did  , 
not  regret  this,  for  he  saw  that  his  country  was  freed  of  invaders,  I 
and  he  felt  sure  that  his  enemies  at  court  would  eventually  com-/ 
pass  his  death  even  if  he  survived  the  war. 

It  was  during  this  second  invasion  that  the  Japanese  shipped 
back  to  Japan  a large  number  of  pickled  ears  and  noses  of 
Koreans,  which  were  buried  at  Kyoto.  The  place  is  shown  to- 
day, and  stands  a mute  memorial  of  as  savage  and  wanton  an 
outrage  as  stains  the  record  of  any  great  people.  During  the 


102 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


years  of  Japanese  occupancy  they  sent  back  to  Japan  enormous 
quantities  of  booty  of  every  kind.  The  Koreans  were  skilled  in 
making  a peculiar  kind  of  glazed  pottery,  which  the  Japanese 
admired  very  much.  So  they  took  the  whole  colony  bodily  to 
Japan,  with  all  their  implements,  and  set  them  down  in  western 
Japan  to  carry  on  their  industry.  This  succeeded  so  well  that 
the  celebrated  Satsuma  ware  was  the  result.  The  remnants  of 
the  descendants  of  the  Koreans  are  still  found  in  Japan. 

Only  a few  years  elapsed  before  the  Japanese  applied  to  the 
Korean  government  to  be  allowed  to  establish  a trading  station 
at  Fusan,  or  rather  to  re-establish  it.  Permission  was  granted, 
and  elaborate  laws  were  made  limiting  the  number  of  boats  that 
could  come  annually,  the  amount  of  goods  they  could  bring, 
and  the  ceremonies  that  must  be  gone  through.  The  book  in 
which  these  details  are  set  down  is  of  formidable  size.  The 
perusal  of  it  shows  conclusively  that  Japan  assumed  a very 
humble  attitude,  and  that  Korea  treated  her  at  best  no  better 
than  an  equal.  This  trading  station  may  be  called  the  back 
door  of  Korea,  for  her  face  ever  was  toward  China;  and,  while 
considerable  trade  was  carried  on  by  means  of  these  annual 
trading  expeditions  of  the  Japanese,  it  was  as  nothing  compared 
with  the  trade  that  was  carried  on  with  China  by  junk  and 
overland  through  Manchuria. 


CHAPTER  VII 


THE  MANCHU  INVASION  AND  EARLY 
CHRISTIANITY 

Early  in  the  seventeenth  century  the  Man  chit  power 
began  to  loom  up  on  the  horizon  like  a black  cloud. 
I China  determined  to  strike  a quick  blow  at  it,  and 
called  upon  Korea  to  aid.  It  is  more  than  likely  that 
the  strenuous  efforts  that  China  had  put  forth  in  helping  Korea 
rid  herself  of  the  Japanese  had  drained  her  resources,  and  she 
had  a good  right  to  call  upon  Korea  to  help  against  the  Man- 
chus,  but  Korea  was  very  reluctant.  She  dreaded  the  conse- 
quences to  herself  if,  after  all,  the  Manchus  should  succeed. 
At  last,  however,  she  sent  a contingent  of  troops  and  joined  with 
China  in  the  war.  In  the  very  first  set  battle  the  Chinese  were 
defeated,  and  the  Korean  generals  hastened  to  send  messages 
to  the  Manchus,  explaining  how  they  had  been  forced  into  the 
conflict  against  their  wishes,  and  suggesting  that  the  Manchus 
and  Koreans  become  friends.  We  do  not  know  how  much  faith 
the  Manchus  put  in  these  protestations,  but  they  had  bigger 
work  on  hand  than  punishing  Korea,  so  they  made  friends  with 
her  for  the  time  being.  In  about  1620  the  Manchu  power  was 
^•ery  busy  fighting  China,  and  Korea  was  left  to  herself;  but  she 
was  not  at  peace.  One  of  the  few  great  rebellions  of  her  history 
occurred  at  this  time.  Actual  civil  war  has  been  almost  unknown 
in  Korea  since  the  sixth  century,  but  Yi  Kwal’s  Rebellion  proved 
the  exception.  He  arose  in  the  north  and  determined  to  over- 
throw the  dynasty.  His  intrigues  and  machinations  would  make 
a long  story,  but  it  must  suffice  to  say  that  he  collected  a power- 
ful army  and  marched  on  Seoul.  The  King  was  quite  unpre- 
pared to  sustain  the  attack,  and  so  fled  to  the  island  of  Kang-wha. 


104 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


The  rebel  army  entered  the  capital,  and  for  a time  Yi  Kwal 
played  at  king,  though  his  sway  never  extended  far  from  the 
walls  of  Seoul.  At  last  a loyal  general  managed  to  bring  him 
to  a standing  fight,  and  he  was  chased  from  the  capital  and 
finally  decapitated. 

The  Manchus  were  not  satisfied  with  the  way  Korea  fulfilled 
her  engagements  to  pay  tribute,  and  was  suspicious  that  she 
favoured  the  Ming  power.  This  led  to  recriminations,  and  at 
last,  in  1627,  the  long-dreaded  invasion  took  place.  iVn  army 
of  thirty  thousand  Manchus  crossed  the  Yalu  and  bore  down 
upon  Seoul.  The  King  fled  again  to  his  island  retreat,  and  from 
that  point  of  vantage  made  an  abject  submission  to  the  Manchus, 
and  sealed  the  compact  in  blood  by  sacrificing  a black  bull  and 
a white  horse,  and  taking  a solemn  oath  to  be  true  to  his  new 
suzerain.  The  text  of  the  Manchu  and  Korean  oaths  respectively 
were  as  follows : 

“ The  second  King  of  the  Manchus  makes  a treaty  with  the 
King  of  Korea.  From  this  day  we  have  but  one  mind  and  one 
thought.  If  Korea  breaks  this  oath,  may  Heaven  send  a curse 
upon  her.  If  the  Manchus  break  it,  may  they  likewise  be  pun- 
ished. The  two  kings  will  have  an  equal  regard  for  truth,  and 
they  will  govern  according  to  the  principles  of  religion.  IMay 
Heaven  help  us  and  give  us  blessings.” 

“ This  day  Korea  takes  oath  and  forms  a treaty  with  the  Kin 
kingdom.  We  swear  by  this  sacrifice  that  each  shall  dwell  secure 
in  the  possession  of  his  own  lands.  If  either  hates  and  injures 
the  other,  may  Heaven  send  punishment  upon  the  offending  part3\ 
These  two  kings  have  minds  regardful  of  truth.  Each  must  be 
at  peace  with  the  other.” 

Everyone  except  the  Manchus  knew  that  these  were  hollow 
protestations  on  Korea’s  part,  and  the  Japanese  hastened  to  send 
secret  promises  of  military  aid  in  case  Korea  wished  to  make 
war  upon  the  Manchus.  The  Chinese  Emperor  also  sent  encour- 
aging words,  which  still  further  unravelled  Korea’s  allegiance  to 
the  new  power  across  the  Yalu. 


THE  MANCHU  INVASION 


105 


It  was  at  this  time,  1631,  that  Korean  envoys  first  fell  in 
with  Roman  Catholic  Christians  in  China,  who  were  adher- 
ents of  the  celebrated  Pere  Ricci.  These  envoys  brought  back 
some  books  on  science,  a pair  of  pistols,  and  a telescope,  together 
with  some  other  products  of  the  West. 

It  soon  became  plain  to  the  Manchus  that  Korea  was  prov- 
ing false.  In  order  to  test  it  they  sent  and  demanded  tribute 
to  the  extent  of  ten  thousand  ounces  of  gold,  a like  amount  of 
silver,  and  ten  million  pieces  of  linen.  They  evidently  wanted 
an  excuse  to  invade  Korea  again.  Korea  indignantly  repudiated 
the  demand,  and  in  1636  the  two  famous,  or  infamous,  Manchu 
generals,  Yonggolda  and  Mabuda,  led  their  half-savage  hordes 
across  the  Yalu. 

It  was  on  the  twelfth  day  of  the  twelfth  moon  of  1636  that 
the  fire  mountains  flashed  the  message  from  the  Yalu  to  Seoul 
that  the  Manchu  invasion  had  begvin.  An  army  of  one  hundred 
and  forty  thousand  had  crossed  and  were  pushing  by  forced 
marches  toward  Seoul.  Never  had  an  army  been  known  to 
cover  the  ground  with  such  devouring  speed.  The  King  had 
already  sent  his  family  to  Kang-wha,  and  was  ready  to  go  him- 
self, when  suddenly  it  was  announced  that  Manchu  videttes  had 
been  seen  on  the  bank  of  the  Han  below  Seoul.  The  road  to 
Kang-wha  was  blocked.  On  a bitterly  cold  night  the  King,  with 
a small  retinue,  fled  out  the  east  gate  and  made  his  way  to  the 
mountain  fortress  of  Namhan,  which  had  but  lately  been  com- 
pleted. This  lies  twenty  miles  to  the  southeast  of  the  capital. 
Here  his  officials  and  a few  thousand  troops  rallied  about  him, 
and  it  was  hoped  that  the  Manchus  could  be  held  off  until 
loyal  troops  could  come  to  the  rescue.  The  Manchus  entered 
Seoul  and  committed  untold  atrocities.  The  tale  is  a sickening 
one.  They  surrounded  the  wall  of  Namhan,  and  tried  repeat- 
edly to  storm  it,  but  without  success.  The  tale  of  that  siege, 
in  which  the  small  Korean  garrison  held  at  bay  the  enormous 
Manchu  army  for  week  after  week,  is  a most  fascinating  one, 
but  too  long  to  be  told  here.  When  at  last  the  inmates  of  the 


io6 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


fortress  were  literally  starving  to  death,  and  every  effort  on  the 
part  of  the  Korean  troops  outside  had  proved  unavailing,  and 
after  Kang-wha  had  been  stormed  and  the  entire  royal  family 
captured,  the  King  surrendered  and  came  out  of  Namhan.  The 
Manchus  made  him  go  through  a long  and  humiliating  ceremony 
of  surrender,  erected  an  imposing  monument  upon  which  the  dis- 
graceful details  were  inscribed,  and,  after  seizing  hundreds  of 
the  people  to  carry  away  as  sla\  es,  they  permitted  the  King  to 
return  to  his  capital ; and  the  Manchu  army,  glutted  with  a sur- 
feit of  booty,  moved  northward.  This  finished  the  matter,  for 
the  Manchus  had  already  won  their  fight  with  the  Ming  dynasty 
and  were  seated  on  the  throne  of  China.  To  this  day  Korea 
has  continued  to  look  upon  the  IManchus  as  semi-savages,  and 
she  casts  back  longing  eyes  to  the  days  of  the  Mings.  The 
dress  of  Korea  to-day  and  the  coiffure  are  those  of  the  ^ling 
dynasty.  The  Manchus  forced  the  people  of  China  to  change 
these,  but  the  Koreans  were  allowed  to  retain  them.  So  that 
the  dress  of  Korea  to-day  is  more  Chinese  than  that  of  China 
itself.  It  cannot  be  doubted  that  if  the  Chinese  people  could 
cast  off  the  Manchu  yoke  they  would  gladly  return  to  the  cus- 
toms of  the  Ming  dynasty. 

It  was  about  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century  that 
the  ill-fated  sailing-vessel  Sparwchr  sailed  from  Holland,  with 
Hendrik  Hamel  as  supercargo.  There  seem  to  have  been 
sixty-four  men  on  board,  and  when  she  went  to  pieces  on  the 
shore  of  Quelpart  only  thirty-six  reached  land  alive.  They 
were  taken  to  Seoul  by  the  authorities,  and  for  fourteen  years 
they  lived  either  upon  the  royal  bounty  or  by  the  work  of  their 
own  hands,  being  drit'en,  upon  occasion,  even  to  beggary.  At 
last  a remnant  of  them  escaped  and  made  their  way  to  Naga- 
saki. Hamel  afterward  wrote  an  account  of  his  experiences  in 
Korea. 

The  remainder  of  the  century  passed  without  incident  of 
special  note,  excepting  the  meeting  of  Koreans  with  Roman 
Catholic  missionaries  in  Nanking,  and  the  slight  beginning  of 


THE  MANCHU  INVASION 


107 


Christian  teaching.  In  1677  a census  of  the  country  was  taken. 
It  was  estimated  that  the  population  was  4,703>505-  This  is 
almost  as  many  as  the  recent  census  report  gives,  which  is  mani- 
festly absurd.  Even  at  that  early  time  the  estimate  was  doubt- 
less far  below  the  truth,  and  the  discrepancy  has  widened  rather 
than  narrowed  during  the  interval.  Party  strife  continued,  and 
the  annals  are  full  of  the  ups  and  downs  of  these  selfish  and 
suicidal  factions.  Native  records  say  that  it  was  in  1686  that 
foreigners  first  entered  Korea  to  preach  the  doctrines  of  Chris- 
tianity. We  are  not  told  their  nationality,  but  they  were  prob- 
ably Chinese.  Nothing  is  said  of  this  in  Ballet’s  great  work  on 
the  history  of  Roman  Catholicism  in  Korea,  and  it  is  rather 
difficult  to  understand.  It  would  hardly  be  found  in  the  records, 
however,  unless  there  was  some  slight  ground  for  it.  We  are 
told  that  the  doctrine  made  good  progress  at  that  time,  but  that 
some  of  the  highest  officials  asked  the  King  to  send  the  for- 
eigners out  of  the  country. 

The  eighteenth  century  opened  with  the  strife  of  parties  at 
white  heat,  but  there  were  bright  spots  in  the  picture.  The  great 
mountain  fortress  back  of  Seoul,  called  Pukhan,  was  completed 
in  1717,  and  the  same  King  who  put  through  this  stupendous 
piece  of  work  also  made  himself  a wellnigh  unique  figure  in 
history  by  prohibiting,  under  the  severest  penalties,  the  manu- 
facture or  sale  of  intoxicating  beverages  of  any  kind.  For 
years  the  drinking  of  such  liquors  was  practically  unknown.  It 
is  said  that  special  police  were  stationed  outside  the  gates,  whose 
duty  it  was  to  smell  the  breath  of  every  passer-by.  No  sinecure 
this!  The  governor  of  one  of  the  northern  provinces  was  exe- 
cuted because  he  failed  to  observe  the  letter  of  this  law. 

With  the  year  1730  there  began  an  era  of  grand  reform  in 
Korea.  It  bade  fair  to  bring  the  land  back  to  the  standard  set 
by  the  first  kings  of  the  dynasty.  A mere  list  of  the  reforms 
instituted  at  that  time  will  give  us  a glimpse  at  the  condition  of 
the  people.  The  grandsons  of  all  female  slaves  were  declared 
free;  irrigation  reservoirs  were  built;  a new  model  of  the  solar 


io8 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


system  was  made,  to  replace  the  one  destroyed  during  the  Jap- 
anese invasion;  the  cruel  form  of  torture  consisting  of  bending 
the  bones  of  the  lower  leg  was  discontinued;  granaries  were 
built  to  store  grain  for  use  in  times  of  famine ; torture  with  red- 
hot  irons  was  done  away;  a war  chariot  was  invented,  having 
swords  extending  from  the  hubs  of  the  wheels ; a detective  force 
was  formed  to  keep  watch  of  officials;  the  size  of  whipping- 
rods  was  strictly  limited;  the  custom  of  branding  thieves  by 
striking  the  forehead  with  a bunch  of  needles  and  then  rubbing 
ink  into  the  wound,  was  abrogated;  the  three-decked  war-vessel 
was  done  away  with,  and  the  swifter  “ Falcon  Boat  ” was  sub- 
stituted; the  length  of  the  yardstick  was  carefully  regulated 
and  equalised  throughout  the  country;  the  west  and  northeast 
gates  of  Seoul  were  roofed  for  the  first  time ; the  use  of  silk  was 
discouraged ; the  corrupt  miidang,  or  sorceress,  class  was  out- 
lawed ; the  great  sewer  of  the  capital  was  repaired  and  walled 
up ; all  the  serfs  in  Korea  were  emancipated. 

We  are  told  that  by  this  time  the  secret  study  of  Roman 
Catholicism  had  resulted  in  the  wide  dissemination  of  that  reli- 
gion in  Whang-ha  and  Kang-wun  provinces.  This  caused  un- 
easiness at  court,  and  the  King  gave  orders  to  put  down  the 
growing  church.  This  was  more  easily  said  than  done,  and,  as 
no  deaths  resulted,  it  is  probable  that  little  more  than  threats 
were  indulged  in. 

In  1776  the  census  of  the  country  showed  a population  of 
7,006,248,  which  was  an  increase  of  over  2,300,000  in  a century. 
This  in  itself  attests  the  prosperity  of  the  people.  This  rate  of 
advance  was  probably  very  exceptional,  and  was  largely  due  to 
the  remarkably  long  and  wise  rule  of  King  In-jong,  whose 
reforms  we  have  just  recorded. 

It  was  about  1780  that  the  scholar  Kwun  Chul-sin  gathered 
about  him  a company  of  men  and  went  into  the  mountains  to 
study  the  doctrines  of  Christianity.  They  possessed  a single 
copy  of  a Christian  work.  They  one  and  all  determined  to 
adopt  the  Faith.  About  the  same  time  another  young  man  met 


THE  MAXCHU  INVASION 


109 


in  Peking  the  Franciscan,  Alexandre  de  Govea,  and  was  bap- 
tised. He  brought  back  to  Korea  many  books,  crosses,  images 
and  other  religious  emblems.  The  town  of  Yang-geun  is  called 
the  birthplace  of  Korean  Roman  Catholicism.  In  1785  active 
operations  were  begun  against  the  new  religion,  and  a memorial 
was  sent  in  to  the  King  about  it.  The  following  year  the 
embassy  to  Peking  brought  back  many  Catholic  books.  This 
was  reported  to  the  King,  and  a great  stir  was  made.  It  was 
decided  to  cause  a strict  search  to  be  made  in  future  of  all  bag- 
gage of  embassies  returning  to  Korea.  This  same  year  marked 
one  of  the  most  disastrous  scourges  of  cholera  that  ever  swept 
the  country.  It  is  said  that  three  hundred  and  seventy  thousand 
perished.  In  Seoul  alone  there  were  eight  thousand  recoveries, 
which  would  indicate  at  least  sixty  thousand  deaths,  half  the 
population  of  the  city  at  that  time. 

It  was  not  until  1791  that  the  government  began  to  take 
extreme  measures  against  the  Catholic  converts.  It  began  with 
the  execution  of  two  men  who  had  buried  their  ancestral  tablets. 
From  this  it  extended  until,  in  the  eleventh  moon  of  the  year, 
four  high  officials,  who  had  embraced  the  new  faith,  were  seized 
and  put  to  death.  In  the  following  year  the  Pope  formally  put 
the  care  of  the  Korean  church  into  the  hands  of  the  Bishop  of 
Peking,  and  this  was  almost  immediately  followed  by  the  send- 
ing to  Korea  of  the  first  regularly  ordained  priest  in  the  person 
of  Pere  Tsiou,  a Chinese. 

The  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  beheld  a marked  advance 
in  the  arts  and  sciences.  Literature  also  came  to  the  fore,  and 
the  King  ordered  the  casting  of  two  hundred  thousand  more 
printing-types  like  those  that  had  been  cast  near  the  beginning 
of  the  dynasty.  At  the  same  time  some  two  hundred  and  twenty 
thousand  wooden  types  were  also  made.  With  these  a large 
number  of  important  works  were  published,  touching  upon  law, 
religion,  military  tactics,  ethics  and  the  penal  code. 

The  opening  of  the  nineteenth  century  saw  the  government 
thoroughly  committed  to  the  policy  of  extirpating  Roman  Cathol- 


1 lO 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


icism.  The  reason  for  this  was  the  fear  of  foreign  influence. 
It  was  not  primarily  because  the  government  cared  what  reli- 
gion the  people  believed.  The  Japanese  and  Manchu  invasions, 
which  came  so  close  together,  made  the  government  feel  that 
there  was  no  safety  except  in  keeping  as  far  as  possible  from 
all  outside  influences.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  the  year  i8oi 
saw  such  a sanguinary  persecution.  About  thirty  people  lost 
their  lives,  among  whom  were  two  princesses  and  the  priest 
Tsiou. 

The  two  decades  beginning  with  i8io  were  full  of  disaster 
for  Korea.  Floods,  pestilences  and  famines  followed  thick  upon 
<each  other,  and  to  this  unhappy  epoch  is  due  the  comparatively 
poverty-stricken  condition  of  the  country  to-day.  In  1832  an 
English  vessel  appeared  off  Hong-ju,  and  its  captain,  Basil  Hall, 
sent  the  King  a letter  saying  that  he  had  come  to  trade.  Per- 
mission was  refused.  As  the  ship  bore  the  device  “ Religion  of 
Jesus  Christ,”  some  of  the  Catholic  natives  boarded  her;  but 
when  they  found  that  the  people  on  board  were  Protestants,  they 
-beat  a hasty  retreat.  Some  boxes  of  books  were  sent  to  the 
King,  but  he  returned  them.  Two  of  the  people  on  this  ship 
were  Lindsay  and  Gutzlaff,  who  were  attempting  to  enter  the 
■country  as  missionaries,  but  were  unsuccessful.  ^Meanwhile 
M.  Bruguiere,  who  had  been  made  Bishop  of  Korea  by  Pope 
Gregory  XVI,  was  trying  to  get  into  Korea  across  the  northern 
border.  In  this  he  was  thwarted  by  the  Chinese  priest  Yu,  who 
had  succeeded  in  getting  in,  and  was  anxious  to  keep  Bruguiere 
out,  hoping  himself  to  obtain  supreme  power  in  the  Korean 
church.  The  bishop  died  while  waiting  on  the  border,  but  }^Iau- 
bant,  who  was  appointed  in  his  place,  succeeded  in  entering  the 
country  in  1835.  By  1837  two  other  French  priests  had  entered, 
one  of  them  being  Bishop  Imbert.  At  this  time  there  were  some 
nine  thousand  converts,  according  to  their  own  reckoning.  This 
was  the  signal  for  the  beginning  of  a most  sanguinary  persecu- 
tion. A house  to  house  search  was  made.  The  three  French 
priests  were  caught,  and  when  the}'  refused  to  leave  the  country 


THE  MANCHU  INVASION 


III 


they  were  declared  traitors  and  executed.  This  was  the  begin- 
ning, and  the  worst  elements  in  Korean  character  were  let  loose. 
Seventy  people  were  decapitated,  and  sixty  more  died  of  strangu- 
lation or  of  stripes.  This  was  but  a fraction  of  the  whole 
number  that  perished  as  a result  of  the  persecution.  The  next 
ten  years  were  filled  with  troubles  that  grew  out  of  this,  for  the 
g'overnment  did  not  lower  its  hand,  but  persevered  in  the  attempt 
to  thoroughly  extirpate  the  hated  religion.  Of  course  this  was 
impossible.  In  1844  two  more  French  priests  entered  the  coun- 
try by  way  of  Quelpart,  after  desperate  adventures  by  wind  and 
flood.  Two  years  later  the  French  government  sent  a message 
to  Korea  complaining  of  the  death  of  the  three  Frenchmen  and 
threatening  punishment,  but  this  only  excited  the  Koreans  the 
more,  for  it  proved  what  they  had  already  suspected,  that  the 
Roman  Catholics  had  a political  power  behind  them.  This 
'Caused  a new  outbreak,  and  the  two  new  missionaries  were 
with  great  difficulty  concealed. 

In  the  summer  of  1847  two  French  war- vessels,  the  frigate 
La  Gloire  and  the  corvette  La  Victorieuse,  came  to  the  Korean 
coast  to  learn  what  had  been  the  effect  of  the  former  letter. 
Tliey  both  struck  upon  a mud-bank,  and  when  the  tide  went 
down  they  broke  in  two.  The  crews  escaped  to  a neighbouring 
island.  The  Korean  government  gave  them  every  aid  in  its 
power,  supplied  them  with  food  and  other  necessities,  and  even 
■offered  to  furnish  boats  to  take  the  men  back  to  China.  An 
English  ship  happened  to  pass,  and  it  took  the  survivors  back 
to  Shanghai.  The  following  year  the  Koreans  answered  the 
letter  of  the  French,  saying  that  the  French  priests  had  entered 
the  country  in  disguise  and  had  dressed  in  Korean  clothes  and 
■consorted  with  men  who  were  declared  traitors.  When  appre- 
hended, they  had  not  given  their  French  names,  but  Korean 
names,  and  when  offered  the  opportunity  of  leaving  the  country 
they  had  stubbornly  refused.  Under  these  circumstances,  the 
government  asked  what  it  could  have  done  other  than  it  did 
do.  From  the  merely  political  and  legal  point  of  view,  tlie 


II2 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


Korean  government  had  all  the  facts  on  its  side,  but  from  the 
standpoint  of  humanity  they  were  wrong.  We  must  admire 
the  heroism  that  made  these  men  stay  and  suffer  with  their  co- 
religionists, but  it  would  be  wrong  to  say  that  the  government 
was  without  excuse.  They  needed  rather  enlightenment  than 
censure.  The  French  were  not  satisfied  with  this,  but  the  break- 
ing out  of  civil  war  in  France  in  1848  put  an  end  to  all  nego- 
tiations for  the  time  being.  A new  king  came  to  the  throne  of 
Korea  in  1849,  and  he  was  of  such  a mild  character  that  nothing 
was  done  against  the  Catholics  during  his  entire  reign,  which 
lasted  until  1863.  During  this  time  of  quiet  the  numbers  of  the 
adherents  grew  from  eleven  thousand  to  twenty  thousand.  So 
far  as  the  government  was  concerned,  it  was  a time  of  general 
degeneration,  — an  incapable  king  being  surrounded  by  incapable 
ministers.  Nothing  of  importance  occurred  until  the  news  of  the 
taking  of  Tientsin  and  the  march  on  Peking  by  the  allied  French 
and  English  burst  upon  the  court  like  a stroke  of  lightning  from 
the  clear  sky.  One  can  hardly  imagine  the  state  of  terror  into 
which  the  capital  and  the  court  were  thrown.  A mighty  host 
of  Western  savages  had  dared  to  attack  the  citadel  of  the  glorious 
Celestial  Empire.  It  was  indeed  time  to  be  up  and  doing.  The 
Emperor  might  seek  asylum  in  Korea ; so  every  approach  should 
be  guarded.  The  outlaw  bands  that  infested  the  neutral  strip 
between  Korea  and  Manchuria  might  invade  Korea;  so  the 
border  forts  should  be  repaired  and  manned.  Worst  of  all,  the 
foreigners  themselves  might  invade  Korea.  The  cities  would  be 
burned,  the  people  massacred  or  debauched,  and  the  depraved 
religion  would  be  established.  The  army  should  be  reorganised, 
the  forts  guarding  the  approaches  to  Seoul  should  be  repaired, 
forts  should  be  built  on  Kang-wha,  guarding  the  river  approaches 
to  the  capital,  and,  last  of  all,  every  precaution  should  be  taken 
lest  the  foreign  priests  get  into  communication  with  their  com- 
patriots outside.  The  work  began,  but  the  news  of  the  fall  of 
Peking  precipitated  a panic,  in  which  a large  part  of  the  people 
of  Seoul  fled  to  the  mountains,  while  many  tried  to'  secure  from 


THE  MANCHU  INVASION  113 

the  Roman  Catholics  badges  of  some  kind  that  would  secure 
them  protection.  But  the  excitement  gradually  subsided,  and  the 
defensive  works  proceeded  with  great  rapidity.  The  King  died 
in  1863,  and  a new  regime  was  inaugurated,  which  presented  a 
striking  contrast  to  the  one  just  ended.  The  record  of  this  new 
reign  is  the  story  of  the  Opening  of  Korea. 


CHAPTER  VIII 


THE  OPENING  OF  KOREA 

King  CHUL-JONG  died  without  issue,  and  the  Dow- 
ager  Queen  Cho  took  violent  possession  of  the  seals 
of  office,  and  nominated  the  present  ruler  as  king. 
He  was  then  twelve  years  old.  The  government  had 
been  for  many  years  in  the  hands  of  a faction  that  looked  upon 
the  spread  of  Christianity  with  unconcern ; and  it  was  doubly 
unfortunate  that  the  Queen  of  the  deceased  King  was  compelled 
to  hand  over  the  seals,  for  the  power  fell  into  the  hands  of  that 
faction  whose  main  policy  was  undying  hatred  of  the  new  reli- 
gion. The  father  of  the  new  King  was  Prince  Heung-sung,  who 
is  better  known  by  his  later  title,  Taiwunkun.  He  was  a man  of 
strong  personality  and  imperious  will,  and  however  the  people 
may  have  come  to  hate  him,  they  always  respected  him.  He  was 
])erhaps  the  last  really  strong  man  to  appear  on  the  stage  of 
Korean  politics.  His  main  characteristic  was  an  indomitable  will, 
which  took  the  bit  in  its  teeth  and  swept  on  to  the  goal  of  its 
desire  irrespective  of  every  obstacle,  whether  of  morals,  eco- 
nomics, politics  or  consanguinity.  But  he  was  unable  to  read 
the  signs  of  the  time.  The  two  great  mistakes  of  his  life  were 
in  supposing  that  he  could  eradicate  Roman  Catholicism  by  force, 
and  in  supposing  that  he  could  prevent  the  opening  of  the  country 
to  foreign  intercourse. 

His  first  act  was  to  marry  his  son,  the  King,  to  his  wife's 
niece,  a member  of  the  Min  family,  hoping  thus  to  insure  to 
himself  a long  lease  of  power  as  regent,  and  later  as  the  practical 
shaper  of  the  country’s  policy.  Time  showed  how  sadly  he  was 
mistaken.  His  second  act  was  nearly  as  bad  a blunder,  for  he 
set  about  taxing  the  people  to  the  very  quick,  in  order  to  rebuild 


THE  OPENING  OF  KOREA 


1 15 

for  his  son  the  Kydngbok  Palace,  which  had  lain  in  ashes  since 
the  days  of  the  Japanese  invasion  in  1592.  This  enormous  task 
was  at  last  completed,  but  at  terrible  cost.  It  ruined  the  finances 
of  the  country,  debased  the  national  currency,  and  set  in  motion 
a train  of  economic  blunders  which  had  lamentable  results. 
Assuredly  he  was  not  a great  man,  however  strong  he  may  have- 
been. 

In  January  of  1866  a Russian  gunboat  dropped  anchor  in 
the  harbour  of  Wonsan,  and  a message  was  sent  to  court  asking 
for  freedom  of  trade  with  Korea.  It  is  said  that  the  Roman 
Catholics  made  use  of  the  consequent  uneasiness  at  court  to  sug- 
gest that  the  only  way  to  thwart  Russia  was  by  making  an 
alliance  with  England  and  Erance.  The  regent  is  said  to  have 
given  this  plan  close  and  favourable  attention.  In  the  light  of 
subsequent  events,  it  is  difficult  to  determine  whether  the  regent’s 
interest  in  this  plan  was  real,  or  whether  it  was  only  a ruse- 
whereby  to  make  the  final  coup  all  the  more  effective.  All  things 
considered,  the  latter  theory  is  the  more  probable.  The  Erencfi 
themselves  believed  that  the  regent  was  pushed  on  to  the  great 
persecution  of  1866  by  the  violently  anti-Christian  faction  that 
had  raised  him  to  power,  and  that  it  was  simply  another  case  of 
“ If  thou  do  it  not,  thou  art  not  Caesar’s  friend.”  It  is  said  that 
he  reminded  them  of  the  burning  of  the  summer  palace  at  Peking 
and  the  occupation  of  the  imperial  Chinese  capital ; but  they 
answered  that  they  had  killed  Frenchmen  before,  and  with 
impunity,  and  they  could  do  it  again.  But  whatever  pressure 
was  brought  to  bear  upon  him,  he  finally  signed  the  death-warrant 
of  the  foreign  priests,  and  on  February  23  Bishop  Berneux  was. 
arrested  and  lodged  in  prison.  Brought  up  for  trial,  he  said  that 
he  had  come  to  save  the  souls  of  the  Koreans,  and  that  he  had 
been  in  the  country  ten  years.  He  refused  to  leave  the  country 
except  by  force.  His  death-warrant  read  as  follows ; “ The- 
accused,  who  gives  his  name  as  Chang,  refuses  to  obey  the  King : 
he  will  not  apostatise;  he  will  not  give  the  information  required : 
he  refuses  to  return  to  his  own  country.  Therefore  after  the 


ii6 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


usual  punishments  he  will  be  decapitated.”  With  him  Breteni- 
eres,  Beatilieu  and  Doric  were  executed  by  decapitation.  Their 
bodies  were  buried  in  a trench  together,  and  later  were  recov- 
ered by  Christians  and  given  decent  burial.  A few  days  later 
Petitnicolas,  Pourthie,  Daveluy,  Aumaitre  and  Huin  were  put 
to  death.  Of  these  Pourthie  lost  not  only  his  life,  but  the  manu- 
script of  his  Korean  Grammar  and  his  Latin-Korean-Chinese 
Dictionary,  on  which  he  had  spent  ten  ye;ars  of  work.  Three 
priests  remained,  — Calais,  Feron  and  Ridel.  They  remained 
secure  in  hiding,  but  the  last  was  chosen  to  take  a message  to 
China,  giving  information  of  these  terrible  events.  After  almost 
incredible  labours,  he  succeeded  in  taking  boat  from  the  shore 
of  Korea  with  eleven  native  Christians,  and  making  the  harbour 
of  Chefoo.  An  expedition  would  have  been  despatched  against 
Korea  at  once  had  it  not  been  for  trouble  in  Cochin-China  which 

demanded  attention.  -x 

f*  ...  . 

In  June  the  American  sailing-vessel  Surprise  was  wrecked 

off  the  coast  of  Whang-hai  Province,  and  the  crew  were  kindly 
treated  by  the  authorities  and  taken  across  the  Yalu,  and  handed 
over  to  the  Chinese  for  safe  conduct  to  Tientsin.  Even  in  the 
midst  of  an  anti-foreign  demonstration  of  the  severest  type, 
these  people  were  humanely  treated  and  sent  upon  their  way. 

Of  another  stamp  was  the  General  Sherman  affair.  This  vessel 
approached  the  Korean  coast  in  September,  and  in  spite  of  warn- 
ings and  threats  persisted  in  sailing  up  the  Tadong  River  to 
Pyeng-yang.  This  was  possible  only  because  of  high  spring  tides 
in  conjunction  with  a heavy  freshet,  and  it  looked  to  the  Koreans 
as  if  the  Americans  were  burning  their  ships  behind  them,  for 
by  no  possibility  could  the  vessel  be  extricated  from  her  danger- 
ous position.  Orders  were  therefore  given  for  her  destruction. 
She  was  burned  with  fire-rafts,  and  her  crew  were  massacred 
as  fast  as  they  came  ashore.  Here  again  small  blame  is  to  be 
attached  to  the  Koreans,  considering  the  provocation.  j 

Meanwhile  the  persecution  of  the  Christians,  which  had  been 
severe  in  the  spring,  had  somewhat  abated,  but  now  it  broke  out 


THE  LATE  REGENT,  PRINCE  TAI-WUN 


THE  OPENING  OF  KOREA 


117 

again  with  renewed  vigour.  Admiral  Roze,  being  now  ready 
to  take  up  the  matter  of  obtaining  redress  from  Korea  for  the 
killing  of  the  French  priests,  sent  three  boats  to  the  Korean 
coast  to  make  a preliminary  survey  of  the  situation.  This  caused 
a panic  in  Seoul,  and  thousands  fled  to  the  country.  But  the 
boats  sailed  away  to  China,  and  reported  among  other  things  the 
fate  of  the  General  Sherman.  The  real  punitive  expedition  was 
now  ready,  and  on  October  1 1 the  blockade  of  the  Han  River  was 
announced  to  the  Chinese  government  and  the  other  powers. 
Seven  men-of-war  sailed  for  Korea  and  began  their  work  by 
attacking  the  island  of  Kang-wha.  The  town  was  soon  taken, 
and  a large  amount  of  war  material  was  seized ; but  the  Koreans 
were  not  disheartened.  They  sank  junks  in  the  river  channel  to 
block  the  approach  to  Seoul,  and  they  sent  a force  of  some  five 
thousand  men  to  the  island  of  Kang-wha,  consisting  for  the  most 
part  of  tiger-hunters  and  other  hardy  fighters.  These  took  their 
stand  in  a strongly  fortified  Buddhist  monasteiy  near  the  south 
side  of  the  island,  some  twelve  miles  from  where  the  French 
were  stationed.  The  latter  determined  to  attack  this  position, 
and  a detachment  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  men  was  sent  for  this 
purpose.  This  was  a serious  blunder,  for  the  whole  French  force 
would  have  been  unable  to  dislodge  five  thousand  men  from  the 
natural  stronghold  of  the  Koreans.  Arriving  before  the  walled 
fortress  that  was  approachable  only  up  a steep  hill  in  the  face 
of  a double  flanking  fire,  the  French  rushed  up  to  the  attack; 
but  a withering  fire  of  musketry  and  of  rude  cannon,  made  from 
models  taken  from  the  French  wrecks,  put  nearly  one-half  the 
small  French  force  instantly  hors  de  combat.  In  a very  few 
minutes  the  survivors  were  struggling  back  toward  their  main 
position,  heavily  burdened  with  their  dead  and  wounded.  The 
Koreans  gave  chase,  and  the  day  would  have  ended  with  a mas- 
sacre had  not  the  remaining  French  force  come  out  to  the  relief 
of  their  comrades.  The  French  Admiral,  for  what  reason  is  not 
known,  but  probably  because  he  recognised  that  his  force  was 
utterly  unable  to  cope  with  the  Korean  army,  fired  the  town  of 


ii8 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


Kang-wha  and  sailed  away  to  China.  The  effect  upon  the  regent 
and  the  people  of  Korea  was  electric.  They  had  vanquished  the 
very  men  who  had  stormed  Peking  and  humbled  the  mighty 
Emperor.  If  the  reader  will  try  to  view  this  event  from  the  ill- 
informed  standpoint  of  the  Korean  court,  he  will  see  that  their 
exultation  was  reasonable  and  natural.  The  last  argument 
against  a sweeping  persecution  was  now  removed,  and  the  fiat 
went  forth  that  Christianity  was  to  be  annihilated.  No  quarter 
was  to  be  given;  neither  age  nor  sex  nor  condition  was  to 
weigh  in  the  balance.  From  that  date  till  1870  the  persecution 
raged  with  almost  unabated  fury,  and  it  is  probable  that  it 
involved  the  lives  of  nearly  twenty  tliousand  Koreans.  This 
includes  those  who  fled  to  the  mountains  and  froze  or  starred 
to  death. 

In  1871  an  American  expedition  was  fitted  out  to  go  to  Korea 
and  attempt  to  conclude  some  sort  of  treaty  with  Korea  relative 
to  the  treatment  of  American  seamen  who  were  cast  upon  the 
shores  of  the  peninsula,  but  also,  and  mainly,  to  open  up  trade 
relations.  Admiral  Rogers  was  in  charge,  and  the  flotilla  con- 
sisted of  flve  vessels,  — the  Colorado,  Alaska,  Bcrnicia,  Mono- 
cacy  and  Palos.  Frederick  F.  Low,  the  American  minister  at 
Peking,  went  with  the  fleet  to  carry  on  the  diplomatic  part  of  the 
undertaking.  He  knew  very  well,  as  is  seen  in  the  official  cor- 
respondence, that  it  was  a hopeless  task,  but  he  obeyed  orders. 

They  reached  the  western  coast  of  Korea  at  the  end  of  iMay, 
and  attempts  were  at  once  made  to  communicate  with  the  govern- 
ment, but  the  regent  shrewdly  suspected  that  the  expedition  had 
to  do  with  the  massacre  of  the  crew  of  the  General  Sherman,  and 
determined  to  handle  the  Americans  as  he  had  the  French.  While 
the  flotilla  was  waiting  for  an  answer  from  Seoul,  two  of  the 
smaller  vessels  were  sent  up  the  estuary  between  Kang-wha  and 
the  mainland  to  take  soundings  and  make  observations.  This 
place  was  considered  the  very  gate  to  the  capital,  and  the  extreme 
unwisdom  of  the  act  appeared  when  a small  Korean  fort  on  the 
island  opened  fire  on  the  boats.  The  latter  returned  the  fire,  but 


THE  OPENING  OF  KOREA 


u 


1 19 

withdrew  to  report.  It  was  decided  that  as  the  flag  had  been 
fired  upon,  an  immediate  attack  was  necessary  in  order  to  uphold 
the  honour  of  the  American  Republic.  A considerable  force 
was  sent  against  the  little  fort;  the  party  landed,  made  its  way 
across  some  very  rough  ground  and  stormed  the  place  at  the 
point  of  the  bayonet.  The  Koreans  fought  with  desperation,  and 
every  one  of  them  fell  at  his  post.  Their  ammunition  gave  out, 
but  they  caught  up  gravel  in  their  fists  and  threw  it  into  the  faces 
of  the  Americans.  The  fort  was  taken,  and  the  honour  of  the 
flag  was  vindicated  with  the  loss  of  a single  American  officer. 
The  victorious  party  then  withdrew ; and  as  it  was  now  mani- 
festly impossible  to  effect  a friendly  settlement  of  the  matter, 
and  the  force  at  his  command  was  utterly  inadequate  to  accom- 
plish anything  decisive,  the  whole  fleet  sailed  away.  The  regent 
cared  little  for  the  loss  of  a few  earthworks  on  Kang-wha.  Even 
if  the  Americans  had  overrun  the  peninsula  and  yet  had  not 
unseated  the  King,  their  final  withdrawal  would  have  left  the 
government  in  the  firm  belief  that  the  foreigners  had  been 
whipped.  The  approach  of  American  gunboats  up  to  the  very 
“ Gibraltar  of  Korea  ” was  taken  by  the  regent  as  a declaration 
of  war,  and  the  loss  of  the  little  garrison  on  Kang-wha  was  but 
a small  price  to  pay  for  their  exultation  upon  seeing  the  American 
vessels  hull  down  in  the  Yellow  Sea.  The  regent  immediately 
caused  the  erection  of  a monument  in  the  centre  of  Seoul,  on 
which  were  carved  anathemas  against  anyone  who  should  ever 
propose  peace  with  any  Western  power. 

But  in  the  interval  the  great  awakening  had  taken  place  in 
Japan,  and  a new  force  was  launched  upon  the  troubled  seas  of 
Oriental  politics.  In  the  first  flush  of  this  wonderful  dawn  of 
modern  Japan,  the  people  who  had  steered  the  ship  of  state 
into  that  desired  haven  fancied  that  a similar  success  might  be 
achieved  in  Korea,  and  an  envoy  was  sent  by  way  of  Fusan, 
where  still  existed  the  Japanese  trading-station,  to  see  what 
could  be  done  in  Seoul.  This  was  Hanabusa,  and  he  succeeded 
in  getting  into  communication  with  the  Queen’s  party.  It  must 


120 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


be  noted  that  the  time  had  now  come  when  the  regent  must  hand 
over  the  reins  of  power  to  his  son,  the  King.  His  complete 
absorption  of  all  the  functions  of  the  government  had  aroused  the 
jealousy  of  the  Queen’s  family,  and  a determined  effort  was  being 
made  to  combat  the  regent’s  power.  This  was  so  successful  that 
in  1873  he  shook  off  the  dust  of  Seoul  from  his  shoes,  and  retired 
to  a neighbouring  town  in  disgust. 

A new  era  was  now  opened.  The  friends  of  the  ex-regent 
were  many  and  powerful,  and  they  encompassed  the  murder  of 
the  Queen’s  father,  and  committed  other  atrocities ; but  the  Min 
faction  was  master  of  the  situation,  and  the  policy  of  seclusion 
gave  way  to  one  of  genuine  advancement.  There  can  be  no 
question  that  at  first  the  Queen’s  faction  stood  for  what  is  gen- 
erally called  progress.  It  had  no  special  leaning  toward  China, 
and  having  reversed  the  policy  of  the  regent  it  stood  ready  to 
do  whatever  was  necessary  to  open  up  the  country  to  foreign 
intercourse.  The  trouble  came  later,  but  of  this  anon. 

In  1876  the  first  foreign  treaty  was  signed  with  Japan.  It 
seems  that  a Japanese  war-vessel  had  approached  the  coast  near 
Chemulpo,  and  had  been  fired  upon  by  a Korean  fort.  A com- 
pany of  troops  was  landed  and  the  fort  was  taken.  The  Korean 
government  claimed  that  the  commandant  of  the  fort  did  not 
know  that  the  vessel  belonged  to  Japan;  but  however  this  may 
have  been,  it  ended  by  Korea  assenting  to  the  ratification  of  a 
treaty  of  peace  and  friendship  with  Japan.  By  this  instrument 
the  Japanese  recognised  the  independence  of  Korea,  and  treated 
with  her  as  an  equal,  a policy  which  she  has  continued  until 
recently.  A minister  was  sent  to  Seoul  in  1879  in  the  person 
of  Hanabusa,  whom  we  have  already  mentioned.  A Korean 
envoy  was  also  sent  to  Japan.  The  government  arrested  two 
French  priests  who  had  just  arrived  in  Seoul,  and  they  were  in 
some  danger;  but  while  the  authorities  were  considering  the 
matter,  and  hesitating  lest  this  act  be  inconsistent  with  the 
changed  conditions,  the  Japanese  minister  secured  their  release 
and  their  transportation  to  Japan. 


THE  OPENING  OF  KOREA 


121 


With  the  year  1880  began  a train  of  events  which  caused 
the  complete  destruction  of  all  the  hopes  which  had  been  held  out 
regarding  Korea’s  genuine  progress.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  the  Min  family  were  sponsors  for  the  opening  of  the  country, 
and  they  took  the  lead  in  all  innovations.  They  may  not  have 
been  actuated  by  the  highest  motives,  and  it  is  more  than  likely 
that  their  new  power  went  to  their  heads ; but  at  the  same  time 
the  hoi)e  of  the  country  lay  in  them.  Korea  was  not  ready  to 
inaugurate  the  sweeping  changes  which  Japan  had  made.  The 
temperament  of  her  people  and  the  nature  of  her  institutions  alike 
forbade  it.  But  there  arose  in  Seoul  a faction  which  was  deter- 
mined to  force  the  Koreans  to  an  extreme  policy  of  reform.  One 
or  two  of  these  men  had  been  in  Japan  and  had  imbibed  the 
spirit  of  reform;  and  in  their  enthusiasm  they  thought  the  con- 
servatism of  centuries  could  be  reversed  in  an  hour.  Unfortu- 
nately the  Japanese  thought  the  same  thing,  and  were  in  full 
sympathy  with  these  extreme  radicals,  calling  them  the  liberal 
party,  and  growing  restive  under  the  slower  methods  of  the 
Mins.  The  latter  soon  came  to  see  that  the  Japanese  were  bent 
upon  putting  the  power  into  the  hands  of  these  radicals,  and  in 
pure  self-defence  they  turned  to  the  Chinese  for  help.  This  was 
the  beginning  of  the  end.  The  inexperience  of  the  Japanese  had 
blocked  all  hope  of  a peaceful  and  judicious  introduction  of 
reforms,  and  had  thrown  the  ruling  faction  into  the  arms  of 
China,  whose  one  desire  now  was  to  retrieve  the  mistake  she  had 
made  in  declaring  that  she  was  in  no  way  responsible  for  or 
interested  in  Korea’s  blunders.  We  can  here  put  our  finger  upon 
the  very  point  where  the  conflict  between  Japan  and  China,  and 
consequently  the  conflict  between  Japan  and  Russia,  had  its  incep- 
tion. If  Japan  had  handled  the  situation  with  tact,  allowed 
China  to  retain  her  shadowy  patronage,  and  led  the  Min  faction 
along  a conservatively  liberal  path,  there  might  have  been  a very 
different  outcome.  Or  if  Japan  had  been  ready  to  face  China 
and  fight  it  out  then  and  there,  Korea’s  future  would  have  been 
better  secured.  As  it  was,  the  ruling  faction  came  to  regard 


122 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


Japan  not  as  a friend,  but  as  a decided  enemy,  and  their  whole 
power  was  directed  toward  preventing  the  things  which  Japan 
wished  to  accomplish.  As  yet  the  King  himself  was  not  com- 
pletely under  the  domination  of  the  Min  family,  and  he  looked 
with  considerable  complacency  upon  the  efforts  of  the  radicals 
to  introduce  reforms  independently  of  the  Min  faction.  He  was 
not  violently  opposed  in  this,  but  the  meshes  of  the  conser\-ative 
party  were  being  thrown  around  him,  and  he  was  gradually  being 
drawn  away.  And  so  the  two  parties  were  fairly  well  balanced 
for  the  time.  On  the  one  side  was  the  Min  family  with  a number 
of  allied  families,  and  on  the  other  were  the  comparatively 
isolated  members  of  the  radical  party,  — Kim  Hong-jip,  Kim 
Ok-kyun,  Pak  Yong-hyo,  Su  Kwang-bum,  Su  Cha-p’il  and 
others.  We  say  isolated  because  they  had  only  personally 
imbibed  the  spirit  of  radical  reform,  and  they  had  behind  them 
no  large  and  deeply  rooted  family  connection  that  was  ready  to 
see  them  through  to  a successful  issue.  They  put  on  foot  some 
important  and  salutary  reforms,  which  were  watched  by  the  people 
with  amused  tolerance  as  the  antics  of  madmen ; but  they  were 
not  taken  seriously.  These  men  came  the  nearest  to  being 
genuine  patriots  that  Korea  has  ever  seen.  They  were  far  ahead 
of  their  times,  and  what  they  desired  was  the  very  best  thing  for 
Korea.  The  fact  that  Korea  did  not  want  it  — would  have  none 
of  it  — can  never  detract  from  the  honour  due  those  men.  They 
were  loyal  to  their  best  instincts,  but  they  fell  just  short  of 
greatness  because  they  were  unwilling  to  see  their  temporary 
ascendency  checked  in  order  that  they  might  be  of  future  use. 
They  thought  that  it  w^as  a case  of  “ now  or  never,”  in  which 
opinion  they  were  mistaken. 

The  military  riot  of  1882  was  caused  by  the  wretched  treat- 
ment of  the  troops,  whose  rice  was  mixed  with  sand  in  order 
that  one  of  the  high  officials  might  line  his  pockets.  M'hen  it 
broke  out,  the  IMin  family  was  the  main  point  of  attack.  Several 
of  them  were  killed  and  others  fled.  The  palace  was  invaded, 
and  the  Queen  was  saved  only  by  a trick,  for  she  was  carried  out 


THE  OPENING  OF  KOREA 


1-3 


on  the  back  of  a faithful  retainer,  who  claimed  she  was  his  sister, 
and  escaped  to  a country  retreat.  At  the  same  time,  with  the 
utmost  inconsistency,  the  Japanese  were  attacked,  and  had  to 
beat  a retreat  to  Chemulpo  and  thence  to  Japan.  The  legation 
was  burned,  and  several  Japanese  were  killed.  The  ex-regent 
was  called  back  to  power,  and  some  fondly  believed  that  the  good 
old  days  had  returned.  This  did  not  appear  so  clear  when 
Count  Inouye  arrived  at  Chemulpo  and  began  negotiations  for 
the  settlement  of  the  difficulty.  But  the  regent  put  him  off,  and 
practically  refused  to  treat;  so  the  count  returned  to  Japan. 
Hardly  had  he  gone  when  a Chinese  force  of  three  thousand 
men  arrived,  one  of  their  officers  being  the  well-known  Yuan 
Shih-kei,  who  was  to  play  an  important  role  in  Korea.  These 
troops  had  come  in  the  interests  of  the  Min  faction.  They 
immediately  seized  the  ringleaders  of  the  revolt,  and  ten  of 
them  were  torn  asunder  by  bullocks.  The  ex-regent  was  then 
inveigled  on  board  a boat  in  the  river  and  spirited  away  to 
China.  The  Queen  came  back  from  her  temporary  banishment, 
and  all  was  quiet  again.  The  peace  with  Japan  was  patched 
up  by  the  payment  of  an  indemnity,  and  relations  were  resumed. 
The  Chinese  now  had  a firm  hand  on  the  government,  and  held 
it  there  by  virtue  of  the  fact  that  they  had  acted  as  the  Queen’s 
deliverers.  Through  their  influence  P.  G.  von  Mollendorff  was 
asked  to  come  and  establish  a customs  service  here,  and  to  act 
as  general  adviser.  Two  of  the  Chinese  generals  were  attached 
to  his  staff. 

In  May  q^f  1883  Commodore  Schufeldt  at  Chemulpo  drew 
up  a treaty  between  Korea  and  the  UnitedStates,’~and  General 
Foote  was  sent  as  first  American  minister  to^ the^orean  court. 
In  the  following  autumn  treaties  with  Germany  and  Great  Britain 
were  also  signed.  Korea  was  now  a recognised  member,  in  good 
and  regular  standing,  of  the  family  of  treaty  powers.  She  was 
de  jure  an  independent  kingdom,  for  China  had  not  only  put  no 
obstacles  in  the  way  of  the  ratification  of  these  treaties,  but  had 
e\'en  facilitated  them.  Her  subsequent  claim  to  suzerainty  was 


124 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


comical  in  its  incongruity.  It  was  in  this  same  year  that  Min 
Yong-ik,  the  nephew  of  the  Queen  and  a prominent  official, 
headed  an  embassy  to  the  United  States.  He  was  accompanied 
by  a number  of  young  Koreans,  most  of  whom  were  of  the 
liberal  party.  At  this  time  Min  Yong-ik  was  the  one  important 
member  of  the  Min  faction  who  favoured  radical  reform,  but 
on  his  return  to  Korea  the  clan  feeling  proved  too  powerful,  and 
he  gradually  went  over  to  the  other  side. 

The  year  1884  saw  the  two  rival  factions  draw  to  the  crisis 
which  could  not  be  averted.  Reform  movements  were  attempted, 
but  the  radical  faction  was  thwarted  at  every  turn  by  the  con- 
servatives, who  had  the  Chinese  behind  them,  and  the  ear  of  the 
King  besides.  The  Chinese  had  a strong  body  of  troops  here 
also,  which  made  the  radicals  feel  that  in  order  to  carry  out 
their  plans  it  would  be  necessary  to  obtain  Japanese  support  of 
a like  character.  The  young  Koreans  who  had  been  sent  to 
Japan  to  learn  military  tactics  now  came  home.  At  their  head 
was  Su  Cha-p’il,  better  known  as  Dr.  Philip  Jaisohn.  He  was 
an  ardent  member  of  the  radical  faction.  The  leaders  of  that 
party  communicated  with  the  Japanese,  or  at  least  an  under- 
standing was  arrived  at,  that  Japan  should  back  them  in  their 
attempt  to  stem  the  current  of  consen-atism.  As  winter  came 
on,  it  became  more  and  more  apparent  that  one  or  other  of  the 
two  factions  must  give  in,  and  the  conservatives  were  so  thor- 
oughly intrenched  that  the  radicals  were  very  much  disheartened. 
There  were  two  possible  courses  open  to  them:  one  was  to  step 
down  and  out,  and  give  the  conservatives  free  rein,  and  the  other 
was  to  take  things  into  their  own  hands  by  a coup  de  main,  and 
crush  the  opposition.  While  they  were  discussing  this  matter, 
and  were  arranging  for  a Japanese  man-of-war  to  come  to  their 
support,  the  news  leaked  out  that  a plan  was  on  foot  for  the 
violent  deposition  of  the  conservative  faction.  The  imminent 
danger  in  which  this  placed  the  radical  faction  caused  them  to 
act  at  once.  The  new  post-office  was  to  be  opened  with  a ban- 
quet on  December  4.  IMin  Yong-ik  was  one  of  the  principal 


THE  OPENING  OF  KOREA 


125 


guests,  but  members  of  both  factions  were  there,  together  with 
some  of  the  foreign  representatives,  the  Chinese  generals,  and 
the  foreign  adviser  Von  Mollendorff.  In  the  midst  of  the  dinner 
Min  Yong-ik  was  called  out,  and  he  was  attacked  by  an  assassin 
in  the  court,  who  wounded  him  horribly  with  a sword  and  made 
his  escape.  All  was  instantly  in  confusion.  The  Koreans  hastily 
dispersed,  and  the  wounded  man  was  taken  to  the  residence  of 
Von  Mollendorf,  where  he  was  cared  for  at  the  skilful  hands 
of  Dr.  H.  N,  Allen,  the  newly  arrived  missionary  physician  from 
America.  It  has  never  been  proved  that  this  attack  was  made 
by  the  radicals  themselves,  but  at  any  rate  they  saw  that  they 
must  act  promptly,  for  whether  the  crime  was  theirs  or  not  they 
knew  that  it  would  be  charged  against  them.  It  was  now  neces- 
sary for  them  to  strike  a swift,  sharp  blow  or  be  destroyed 
seriatim.  They  chose  the  former  course,  and  hurried  to  the 
palace,  where  they  secured  possession  of  the  King’s  person,  and 
forced  him  to  send  to  the  various  heads  of  departments,  ordering 
them  to  present  themselves  before  him.  These  men  came  one 
by  one,  and  as  fast  as  they  came  they  were  cut  down  in  cold 
blood  by  the  company  of  students,  lately  from  Japan,  who  had 
come  to  the  palace  as  body-guard  to^  the  radical  leaders.  In  this 
revolting  massacre  seven  men  were  destroyed,  including  one  of 
the  eunuchs  who  had  been  influential  on  the  conservative  side. 
The  King  was  then  made  to  send  to  the  Japanese  minister,  asking 
for  a guard.  This  was  immediately  sent,  and  it  looked  as  if  the 
coup  had  been  a success.  The  Cliinese,  however,  looked  at  it 
differently^  and  forthwith  made  a regular  military  attack  upon 
the  palace,  knowing  full  well  that  the  situation  could  not  pos- 
sibly be  of  the  King’s  making.  The  four  hundred  Japanese  had 
a good  deal  of  ground  to  cover,  for  the  palace  is  of  great  extent, 
and  the  Chinese  force  outnumbered  them  seven  to  one.  This 
action  on  the  part  of  the  Chinese  had  evidently  not  been  antici- 
pated by  the  revolutionists,  and  it  soon  became  clear  that  the 
situation  could  not  be  maintained.  The  King  and  the  people 
were  all  against  the  movement,  and  the  situation  could  be  saved 


126 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


only  by  throwing  Japan  and  China  at  each  other's  throats.  The 
play  was  decided  not  to  be  worth  the  candle,  and  so  the  Japanese, 
in  company  with  the  radical  leaders,  forced  their  way  out  of  the 
city  to  Chemulpo,  and  made  their  way  to  Japan. 

' This  was  the  first  great  reverse  that  Japan  suffered  at  the 
hands  of  the  Chinese,  and  the  question  was  definitely  settled  as 
to  the  attitude  that  Korea  should  take.  She  was  henceforth 
completely  in  China’s  hands,  and  was  destined  to  remain  there 
until  Japan  reversed  the  verdict  in  1894,  just  ten  years  later. 

These  ten  years  may  be  passed  over  without  much  comment. 
They  witnessed  a continual  encroachment  by  China  upon  Korea's 
independence,  and  a hopeless  acc[uiescence  on  the  part  of  the 
latter,  which  came  near  to  alienating  the  good-will  of  her  best 
friends.  The  most  important  work  of  this  decade  was  the  intro- 
duction of  Protestant  Christianity  in  the  peninsula.  Several 
American  societies  began  work  here  almost  simultaneously,  and 
in  each  case  with  marked  success.  The  Korean  temperament  is 
such  that  it  seems  specially  open  to  approach  by  Christianity. 
This  peculiar  susceptibility  lies  in  the  fact  that  Christianity,  the 
most  rational  and  at  the  same  time  the  most  mystical  of  all 
religions,  finds  in  the  Korean  a like  combination  of  rationality 
and  idealism.  Whether  this  theory  be  correct  or  not,  the  fact 
remains  that  Christian  teaching  at  the  hands  of  Protestant  mis- 
sionaries was  readily  accepted  b}'^  the  Koreans,  and  within  the 
decade  large  portions  of  the  country  were  dotted  with  Christian 
chapels  and  schools,  the  Scriptures  were  partly  printed  and  dis- 
seminated, a large  Christian  literature  was  published,  and.  in 
every  activity  of  Christian  life,  whether  of  an  evangelistic  or 
philanthropic  nature,  the  foundations  were  laid  for  a work  that 
should  not  stop  short  of  the  Christianising  of  the  entire  nation. 
It  had  been  the  fashion  in  certain  circles  to  speak  slightingly  of 
Christian  missions,  but  this  is  done  only  by  those  who  are  either 
unconvinced  of  the  paramount  claims  of  Christianity,  or  by  those 
who,  uninformed  themselves,  are  willing  to  ape  opinions  that  are 
fashionable.  The  extreme  rancour  of  those  who  assail  an  insti- 


THE  OPENING  OF  KOREA 


127 


tution  of  whose  workings  and  results  they  are  almost  wholly 
ignorant  can  be  reasonably  explained  only  on  the  theory  that 
they  are  goaded  on  to  such  assault  by  an  uneasy  conscience. 
The  cause  of  missions  does  not  need  any  apology  or  vindication, 
but  we  cannot  forbear  to  wish  that  fewer  of  those  who  have 
enjoyed  the  hospitality  of  missionaries  in  foreign  lands  should 
be  guilty  of  the  unspeakable  meanness  of  vilifying  them  after 
returning  to  the  home  lands. 

This  decade  witnessed  the  opening  of  the  various  treaty  ports 
of  Chemulpo,  Fusan,  Wonsan  and  Seoul,  the  construction  of 
telegraph  lines,  the  opening  of  a Government  Hospital  and  an 
English  Language  School,  the  building  of  a mint  and  other 
important  government  institutions,  and  the  introduction  of  a 
thousand  different  products  of  Western  thought.  For  several 
years  Judge  O.  N.  Denny,  the  foreign  adviser,  tried  to  keep 
Korea  out  of  the  clutches  of  China.  His  arguments  were  con- 
clusive, but  of  little  avail  in  the  face  of  Korea’s  willingness  to 
fall  back  upon  the  old-time  relationship  of  suzerain  and  vassal. 
There  can  be  little  doubt  that  if  the  war  had  not  intervened  and 
reasserted  Korean  independence  the  foreign  powers  would  have 
felt  constrained  to  remove  their  legations. 

The  whole  world  knows  the  story  of  how  the  gradual 
encroachments  of  China  led  up  to  the  war,  and  how  the  predic- 
tions of  almost  all  the  experts  were  falsified  by  the  remarkable 
energy  and  skill  displayed  by  Japan.  That  war  swept  through 
Korea  and  across  the  Yalu,  leaving  the  country  in  the  hands  of 
Japan.  The  military  prowess  of  the  island  empire  was  proved 
beyond  a doubt,  but  it  was  yet  to  be  shown  that  she  had  the 
peculiar  kind  of  ability  which  could  construct  an  independent 
power  out  of  such  material  as  she  found  in  Korea.  It  was  at 
this  point  that  her  weakness  was  revealed.  The  methods  she 
adopted  showed  that  she  had  not  rightly  gauged  the  situation, 
and  showed  her  lack  of  adaptability  to  the  new  and  strange  con- 
ditions with  which  she  was  called  upon  to  grapple.  The  brutal 
murder  of  the  Queen,  and  the  consequent  alienation  of  Korean 


128 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


good-will,  the  oppressive  measures  which  led  the  King  to  throw 
himself  into  the  hands  of  Russia,  all  these  things  demonstrated 
the  lack  of  that  constructive  ability  which  was  necessary  to  the 
successful  solution  of  the  knotty  problem. 

The  decade  beginning  with  1894  saw  a continuance  of  the 
old  difficulty  under  a new  guise.  It  was  no  longer  a struggle 
between  Japan  and  China,  but  between  Japan  and  Russia.  And 
just  as  Japan  failed  in  the  diplomatic  duel  with  China,  so  she 
failed  in  the  diplomatic  duel  with  Russia.  In  each  case  a final 
resort  to  arms  was  necessary. 


CHAPTER  IX 


THE  ASSASSINATION  OF  THE  QUEEN 

f'  ■ ^HE  year  1895  was  big  with  history.  Its  events  cre- 
I ated  a strong  and  lasting  impression  upon  the  whole 

B Korean  people,  and  it  is  in  the  light  of  these  events 

that  the  whole  subsequent  history  of  the  country 
must  be  interpreted.  The  year  opened  in  apparent  prosperity. 
The  King  had  taken  oath  to  govern  according  to  enlightened 
principles,  and  had  exhorted  his  officials  to  adhere  strictly  to  the 
reform  programme,  protesting  that  if  he  himself  failed  to  do  so 
it  would  be  an  offence  against  Heaven.  The  Taiwunkun  had 
retired  from  public  life,  but  as  his  son,  the  brother  of  the  King, 
was  Minister  of  the  Household,  and  his  grandson  Yi  Chun- 
yong  held  a position  near  the  King,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
in  a private  way  the  Taiwunkun  exercised  fully  as  much  influ- 
ence as  he  had  done  while  in  active  office.  It  is  necessary  to 
bear  in  mind  that  the  enmity  of  the  Queen  against  the  ex-regent 
extended  to  the  sons  of  the  latter,  and,  in  spite  of  the  terms  of 
the  King’s  oath,  constant  pressure  was  brought  to  bear  upon  the 
King  from  that  direction.  Whatever  be  the  reason,  we  And  that 
in  January’-  Yi  Chun-yong  was  sent  to  Japan  as  Korean  minister, 
an  act  that  was  really  in  favour  of  the  anti-regent  faction,  since 
it  temporarily  removed  one  of  the  chief  actors  from  the  imme- 
diate stage. 

As  the  King  had  sworn  to  pay  personal  attention  to  the  details 
of  government,  it  was  deemed  advisable  to  remove  the  cabinet 
meeting-place  to  the  palace  itself.  Whether  this  was  in  accord 
with  the  spirit  of  the  reforms  may  be  doubted,  for  it  worked 
directly  for  the  complete  centralisation  of  power,  which  later 
caused  a reversal  of  the  whole  governmental  policy. 


130 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


The  progress  of  the  so-called  reforms  went  on  apace.  The 
outside,  the  integuments,  were  changed,  whatever  may  or  may 
not  have  happened  in  the  inner  mind.  The  long  baggy  sleeves 
which  had  distinguished  the  true  yang-ban  were  done  away, 
and  the  side-openings  of  the  long  coats  were  sewed  up.  The 
width  of  the  hat  brims  was  curtailed,  and  other  minor  changes 
were  effected.  A salutary  change  was  made  by  putting  power 
into  the  hands  of  the  ministers  of  state  to  carry  out  the  work  of 
their  respective  offices,  according  to  law,  without  referring  every- 
thing to  the  central  government,  excepting  in  very  important 
cases,  where  it  affected  other  departments.  The  immemorial 
customs  regarding  the  salutations  of  inferiors  to  superiors  and 
vice  versa  were  largely  done  away  and  more  democratic  rules 
fomiulated.  The  Home  Minister  undertook  to  correct  many 
abuses  in  the  country,  to  ferret  out  cases  where  cultivated  land 
returned  no  revenue,  because  of  the  indirection  of  the  ajiins,  and 
by  this  means  the  revenue  of  the  government  was  very  largely 
augmented. 

At  this  time  a radical  change  was  made  in  the  manner  of  pun- 
ishing criminals.  The  cruel  forms  of  execution  and  of  torture 
which  had  always  prevailed  were  done  away,  and  more  humane 
methods  instituted.  Decapitation  was  done  away,  and  strangu- 
lation substituted.  This  worked  no  relief  for  the  criminal,  but 
the  horrible  spectacle  of  public  decapitation  was  relegated  to 
the  past. 

On  the  native  New  Year,  which  occurred  in  February,  the 
King  issued  an  important  edict  saying  that  office  should  be  given 
not  only  to  men  of  noble  blood,  but  to  others  of  good  character 
and  attainments,  and  he  ordered  that  such  men  be  selected  and 
sent  up  from  the  country  as  candidates  for  official  position.  This 
was  very  pleasing  to  the  country  people,  and  was  hailed  as  a 
genuine  sign  of  political  renovation.  At  the  same  time  the 
ancient  arch  outside  the  West  Gate  was  demolished.  This  arch 
was  the  only  remaining  sign  of  Chinese  suzerainty,  and  its 
demolition  broke  the  last  visible  thread  which  bound  Korea  to  her 


BUDDHIST  ABBOT 


THE  ASSASSINATION  OF  THE  QUEEN  131 


great  patron.  We  say  visible  advisedly,  for  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  the  intrinsic  loyalty  of  the  vast  majority  of  Koreans  to  China 
was  still  practically  unimpaired. 

On  February  13  Yun  Chi-ho  returned  from  many  years’ 
sojourn  in  America  and  China,  where  he  had  gained  a genuine 
insight  into  truly  enlightened  government;  and  his  return  to 
Korea  would  have  been  a most  happy  augury  had  there  been 
enough  enlightened  sentiment  in  the  country  to  form  a basis  for 
genuine  as  distinguished  from  superficial  reform. 

Meanwhile  the  Japanese  were  carrying  everything  before 
them  in  Manchuria,  and  the  end  had  now  come.  The  Korean 
government  therefore  sent  a special  envoy  to  the  Japanese  head- 
cjuarters  on  the  field  at  Hai-cheng,  congratulating  them  upon 
their  brilliant  successes.  Soon  after  this  the  war  terminated 
with  the  treaty  of  Shimonoseki,  by  the  terms  of  which  China 
ceded  to  Japan  southern  Manchuria,  and  the  island  of  Formosa, 
abjured  all  interest  in  Korea,  and  paid  an  enormous  indemnity. 
The  result  astonished  the  Koreans,  but  so  strong  was  the  feeling 
in  favour  of  China  that  very  many  still  clung  to  the  idea  that 
China  would  pay  the  money  and  then  go  to  work  preparing  for 
a much  greater  struggle  with  the  victorious  Japanese. 

Since  the  year  1456  Buddhist  monks  had  been  forbidden  to 
enter  Seoul.  This  was  part  of  the  general  policy  of  this  dynasty 
to  give  Buddhism  no  political  foothold.  Now  the  Japanese 
secured  from  the  government  a reinstatement  of  the  Buddhists 
in  their  original  position,  and  for  the  first  time  in  four  centuries 
and  a half  the  mendicant  monk  with  his  wooden  gong  and  rosary 
begged  on  the  streets  of  Seoul. 

In  April  a great  misfortune  overtook  the  house  of  the  ex- 
regent. His  grandson,  Yi  Chun-yong,  nephew  to  the  King,  was 
arrested  and  charged  with  having  connived  with  tonghaks  and 
others  to  depose  the  King  and  assume  the  reins  of  power.  It 
was  not  shown  that  Yi  Chun-yong  had  been  a main  mover  in 
the  scheme  or  that  he  had  even  favoured  the  idea ; but  the  very 
fact  that  his  name  had  been  used  in  such  a connection  was. 


132 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


enough  to  send  him  into  banishment  on  the  island  of  Kyo-dong, 
off  Kang-wha.  Four  other  men  connected  with  this  affair  were 
executed.  This  was  a severe  blow  to  the  ex-regent,  and  did 
much  to  bring  him  to  the  point  which  made  possible  the  terrible 
events  of  the  following  October. 

The  6th  of  June  witnessed  a great  celebration  in  Seoul, 
which  has  gone  down  in  history  as  Independence  Day.  A fete 
was  held  in  the  “ Old  Palace  ” which  exceeded  in  brilliancy  any 
simiHr  demonstration  since  the  opening  of  Korea  to  foreign 
relations. 

It  was  inevitable  that,  from  the  moment  of  his  arrival  in 
Korea,  Pak  Yong-hyo  should  be  at  swords’  points  with  the 
Taiwunkun,  for  the  returned  refugee  represented  the  radical 
wing  of  the  reform  party,  which  the  ex-regent  had  always 
bitterly  opposed;  and,  besides,  the  presence  of  such  a strong 
man  would  necessarily  subtract  from  the  influence  of  the  aged 
but  autocratic  prince.  It  is  probable  that  the  Japanese  brought 
Pak  Yong-hyo  back  to  Korea  under  the  impression  that  he  would 
prove  a willing  instrument  in  their  hands;  but  they  soon  dis- 
covered that  he  had  ideas  and  opinions  of  his  own,  and  that  he 
was  working  rather  for  Korea  than  for  Japan.  He  failed  to  fall 
in  with  some  of  the  plans  which  would  help  the  Japanese,  but  at 
the  expense  of  Korea,  and,  in  fine,  he  became  something  of  an 
embarrassment  to  his  former  benefactors.  IMeanwhile  the  King 
and  Queen  were  both  attached  to  him,  and  this  for  several  reasons. 
He  was  a near  relative  of  the  King,  and  would  have  no  cause  for 
desiring  a change  in  the  status  of  the  reigning  house;  in  the 
second  place  he  was  a determined  enemy  of  the  Taiwunkun, 
and,  in  the  third  place,  he  was  sure  to  work  against  a too  liberal 
policy  toward  the  Japanese.  This  attitude  of  increasing  friend- 
liness between  him  and  the  royal  family  was  a further  cause 
of  uneasiness  to  the  Japanese,  although  Count  Inouye  himself 
had  done  much  to  win  the  good-will  of  the  Queen.  Finally,  Pak 
Yong-hyo  had  won  the  lasting  gratitude  of  the  King  and  Queen 
by  exposing  the  machinations  of  Yi  Chun-yong. 


I’lCTURESQUE  NOOK  IN  THE  OLD  PALACE 


>:s  •'  ■’J''-' 


/■;  - - -r  - 


• A*/ 


y 


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'■.  , rL  > 

'3..  >t 


' 


V -ir  ..>  xv..fii 


THE  ASSASSINATION  OF  THE  QUEEN  133 


The  ex-regent  was  determined  that  Pak  Yong-hyo  should 
be  gotten  out  of  the  way.  To  this  end  he  concocted  a scheme 
which,  with  the  probable  sanction  of  the  Japanese,  seemed  to 
promise  success.  He  laid  before  the  King  certain  grave  charges 
of  treason  against  Pak,  which,  though  not  believed  either  by  the 
King  or  the  Queen,  convinced  them  that  it  would  be  impossible 
to  shield  him  from  probable  destruction ; for  the  people  still 
called  him  a traitor,  the  ex-regent  would  spare  no  pains  to  see 
him  put  out  of  the  way,  and  it  was  evident  that  the  Japanese 
would  not  take  any  strong  measures  to  protect  him.  The  Queen 
called  him  up  and  advised  him  to  make  good  his  escape  before 
action  could  be  taken  on  the  charge  of  treason.  He  complied, 
and  forthwith  escaped  again  to  Japan.  He  had  not  as  yet  broken 
with  the  Japanese,  and  they  were  doubtless  glad  to  help  him 
away.  It  was  early  in  July  that  he  passed  off  the  stage,  perhaps 
for  ever,  and  thus  there  were  lost  to  Korea  the  services  of  one  of 
the  most  genuinely  patriotic  Koreans  of  modern  times.  If  the 
Japanese  could  have  determinedly  put  the  ex-regent  in  the  back- 
ground, and  aV  wed  Pak  Yong-hyo  to  work  out  his  plans  on 
terms  of  amity  with  the  royal  family,  all  the  evils  which  followed 
might  easily  have  been  averted.  It  was  this  act,  as  we  believe, 
of  allowing  the  ex-regent  to  carry  out  his  scheme  of  personal 
revenge  that  caused  the  whole  trouble,  and  there  never  was  a 
time,  before  or  since,  when  brighter  hopes  for  Korea  were  more 
ruthlessly  sacrificed. 

But  progressive  measures  kept  on  apace,  and  during  July 
the  government  issued  new  and  important  mining,  quarantine 
and  army  regulations,  and  organised  a domestic  postal  system. 
A valuable  mining  concession  in  the  district  of  Un-san  in  the 
north  was  granted  to  an  American  syndicate,  a transaction  that 
has  proved  the  most  profitable,  at  least  to  the  foreigner,  of  any 
attempt  to  open  up  the  resources  of  Korea. 

Near  the  end  of  the  month  Korea  suffered  the  misfortune 
of  seeing  Count  Inouye  retire  from  the  legation  in  Seoul  and 
return  to  Japan.  Never  did  the  Japanese  have  such  need  of  a 


134 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


strong  and  upright  man  in  Seoul,  and  never  had  a Japanese  min- 
ister in  Seoul  opportunity  for  greater  distinction.  There  are 
those  who  believe  that  he  despaired  of  accomplishing  anything 
so  long  as  the  two  opposing  factions  in  Seoul  were  led  by  per- 
sonalities so  strong  and  so  implacable  in  their  mutual  hatred  as 
the  Queen  and  the  ex-regent.  It  is  not  unlikely  that  he  felt  that 
until  one  or  other  of  these  should  be  permanently  removed  from 
the  field  of  action  there  could  be  no  real  opportunity  for  the 
renovation  of  Korea.  This  by  no  means  implies  that  he  desired 
such  removal  to  be  effected  by  forcible  means,  but  it  is  not  un- 
natural to  suppose  that  he  must  have  given  expression  to  the 
conviction  as  to  the  futility  of  doing  anything  under  existing 
conditions  in  the  peninsvda.  There  have  been  some  who  have 
believed  that  the  Japanese  authorities  in  Tokyo  determined  upon 
the  removal  of  the  obstacle  in  Seoul  by  any  means  in  their  power. 
Subsequent  events  gave  some  colour  to  this  surmise,  but  we  can- 
not and  do  not  believe  that  the  Japanese  government  was  a party 
to  the  plot  which  ended  in  the  tragedy  of  the  following  October, 
but  that  a fanatical  and  injudicious  Japanese  nvnister  to  Korea 
privately  gave  his  sanction  to  an  act  which  the  Japanese  govern- 
ment would  have  sternly  forbidden  had  they  been  consulted. 

On  the  first  day  of  September  Viscount  iMiura  arrived  from 
Japan  to  assume  the  duties  of  minister.  Over  a month  had 
elapsed  since  the  departure  of  Count  Inouye.  The  viscount  was 
an  enthusiastic  Buddhist,  and  evidently  belonged  to  the  old  rather 
than  the  new  Japan.  He  was,  Avithal,  a strenuous  man.  and  is 
said  to  have  considered  the  settlement  of  the  Korean  difficulties 
merely  a matter  of  prompt  and  vigorous  action.  At  the  time  of 
his  arrival  the  ex-regent  was  living  at  his  summer-house  near 
the  river,  and  from  the  very  first  he  was  in  close  relations  with 
the  new  Japanese  minister.  It  was  quite  evident  that  the  latter 
had  espoused  the  cause  of  the  ex-regent  as  against  the  Queen,  and 
that  instead  of  trying  to  close  the  breach  which  Avas  constantly 
Avidening  betAveen  these  tAvo  poAverful  personages  he  Avas  pre- 
paring to  make  use  of  this  estrangement  to  further  AA'hat  he  sup- 


THE  ASSASSINATION  OF  THE  OUEEN 


135 


posed  to  be  the  interests  of  Japan.  Min  Yong-whan,  the  most 
lK)werful  of  the  Queen’s  friends,  was  sent  to  America  as  minister ; 
and  e^'erything  was  ready  for  the  coup  which  had  undoubtedly 
been  determined  upon.  From  the  mass  of  conflicting  evidence, 
charge  and  counter-charge,  it  is  difficult  to  escape  the  following 
conclusion.  There  were  two  different  policies  held  by  political 
parties  in  Japan  as  to  the  best  way  to  handle  the  Korean  ques- 
tion : one  was  what  we  may  call  the  radical  policy  which  advo- 
cated strong  measures  and  the  instant  and  complete  overthrow 
of  all  opposition  to  the  will  of  Japan  in  the  peninsula;  the  other 
or  conservative  policy  looked  to  the  attainment  of  the  same  object 
by  gradual  and  pacific  means.  It  seems  that  the  failure  of  Count 
Inouye  to  accomplish  anything  definite  in  the  line  of  a settlement 
of  internal  dissensions  at  Seoul  resulted  in  the  appointment  of 
Viscount  Miura  as  an  exponent  of  the  extreme  radical  policy. 
He  was  supposed  to  do  prompt  work,  but  what  that  work  would 
be,  perhaps  neither  he  nor  his  constituency  saw  clearly  before  his 
arrival  on  the  scene.  It  would  be  going  much  too  far  to  say  that 
the  assassination  of  the  Queen  was  once  thought  of,  and  yet  it  is 
more  than  likely  that  those  most  conversant  with  conditions  in 
Seoul  felt  that  by  some  means  or  other  her  enormous  influence 
must  be  permanently  checked,  and  that  affairs  must  be  so  man- 
aged that  she  should  have  nothing  more  to  do  in  the  handling 
of  questions  of  state.  How  this  was  to  be  accomplished  neither 
Miura  nor  any  of  his  advisers  knew  until  he  came  and  looked 
over  the  field. 

For  this  reason  it  is  easy  to  see  how  the  ex-regent  would  be 
the  first  man  in  Korea  with  whom  the  Japanese  minister  would 
wish  to  consult,  and  it  is  certain  that  the  Taiwunkun  would  have 
but  one  word  to  say  as  to  the  solution  of  the  difficulty.  His 
experience  of  twenty  years  had  convinced  him  that  there  was 
only  one  way  to  accomplish  the  object  which  the  minister  had  in 
view ; and  while  Viscount  Miura  naturally  shrunk  from  adopting 
that  course  it  would  seem  he  too  was  at  last  convinced  that  it 
was  the  only  feasible  plan.  That  he  actually  advised  it  in  the 


136 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


first  instance,  we  do  not  believe ; but  that  he  fell  in  with  the  plan 
which  others  suggested  and  which  they  offered  to  carry  through 
without  his  personal  intervention  there  can  be  no  doubt  whatever. 
Nor  can  there  be  any  question  as  to  where  the  responsibility  for 
the  tragedy  rests;  not  with  the  Japanese  government,  surely, 
except  in  so  far  as  its  appointment  of  such  a man  to  the  difficult 
post  of  minister  to  Seoul  may  reflect  upon  its  wisdom. 

It  has  sometimes  been  hinted  that  Count  Inouye  upon  his 
return  to  Japan  advocated  some  such  policy  as  that  which  was 
carried  out  by  Marc|uis  Miura,  but  there  is  nothing  to  indicate 
that  this  is  other  than  a libel,  for  the  whole  career  of  that  able 
statesman  gives  the  he  to  such  suspicions,  and  his  despatches  to 
his  government  show  the  very  opposite  spirit  from  that  intimated 
in  these  slanderous  reports.  For  instance,  we  have  the  extract 
from  his  reports,  read  in  the  Japanese  parliament,  in  which  he 
says : 

“ On  one  occasion  the  Queen  observed  to  me,  ‘ It  was  a matter 
of  extreme  regret  to  me  that  the  overtures  made  by  me  toward 
Japan  were  rejected.  The  Taiwunkun,  on  the  other  hand,  who 
showed  his  unfriendliness  toward  Japan,  was  assisted  by  the 
Japanese  minister  to  rise  in  power.’  In  reply  to  this  I gave  as 
far  as  I could  an  explanation  of  these  things  to  the  Queen,  and 
after  allaying  her  suspicions  I further  explained  that  it  was  the 
true  and  sincere  desire  of  the  Emperor  and  government  of  Japan 
to  place  the  independence  of  Korea  on  a firm  basis,  and  in  the 
meantime  to  strengthen  the  royal  house  of  Korea.  In  the  e^-ent 
of  any  member  of  the  royal  family,  or  indeed  any  Korean, 
attempting  treason  against  the  royal  house,  I ga'S'e  the  assurance 
that  the  Japanese  government  would  not  fail  to  protect  the  royal 
house  even  by  force  of  arms.” 

This  unequivocal  promise  of  protection  was  made  by  Count 
Inouye  just  before  his  departure  for  Japan,  and  we  do  not  and 
cannot  believe  that  he  expressed  anjiihing  but  his  honest  senti- 
ments and  those  of  the  government  that  was  back  of  him.  It 
has  been  urged  that  the  action  of  the  Japanese  government  in 


THE  ASSASSINATION  OF  THE  QUEEN  137 


acquitting  Viscount  Miura  in  the  face  of  the  evidence  given 
proves  the  complicity  of  that  government  in  the  outrage  and  its 
previous  knowledge  that  it  was  to  be  perpetrated,  but  this  does 
not  necessarily  follow.  That  government  was  doubtless  unwill- 
ing to  stultify  itself  by  acknowledging  that  its  accredited  minister 
to  Korea  was  actually  guilty  of  the  crime  indicated  in  the  charge. 
This  attempt  to  evade  the  responsibility  was  of  course  futile. 
There  was  no  escape  from  the  dilemma  in  which  that  government 
was  placed,  but  the  deduction  that  it  was  parficeps  criniinis  in 
the  events  of  October  8 is  unbelievable.  It  was  the  work  of 
Viscount  Miura  and  of  his  staff,  and  of  them  alone,  as  is  shown 
by  the  decision  of  the  Japanese  Court  of  Preliminary  Inquiry, 
which  court  sat  in  Hiroshima  in  January,  1896. 

That  court  found,  among  other  things,  that  Viscount  Miura 
upon  his  arrival  in  Seoul  soon  became  aware  that  the  Korean 
court,  and  especially  the  Queen’s  faction,  was  placing  every 
obstacle  in  the  way  of  reform,  and  felt  that  an  effective  remedy 
should  be  applied.  The  Taiwunkun  asked  the  Japanese  for 
assistance  in  effecting  a radical  change,  and  it  was  decided  to 
grant  it.  But  first  the  ex-regent  was  asked  to  sign  an  agree- 
ment not  to  interfere  unwarrantedly  in  political  matters  in  the 
future.  A plot  was  then  formed  to  take  the  palace  by  force, 
murder  the  Queen,  hold  the  person  of  the  King,  and  thus  control 
the  situation.  This  plot  was  definitely  sanctioned  and  urged  by 
Viscount  Miura  and  his  secretary. 

At  three  o’clock  on  the  morning  of  October  8,  a large  party 
of  Japanese,  including  a number  of  soshi,  together  with  several 
Koreans,  went  to  the  residence  of  the  Taiwunkun,  near  the 
river,  and  in  company  with  him  proceeded  toward  Seoul.  When 
they  were  about  to  start,  their  leader  exhorted  them  to  deal  witli 
the  “ fox  ” as  necessity  might  dictate,  the  obvious  meaning  being 
that  the  Queen  should  be  killed.  About  dawn  the  whole  party 
entered  the  palace  by  the  Kwang-wha  gate,  and  at  once  proceeded 
to  the  royal  apartments. 

At  this  point  the  recital  of  the  facts  abruptly  stops,  and  the 


138 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


court  goes  on  to  state  that,  in  spite  of  these  proven  facts,  there 
is  not  sufficient  evidence  to  pi'ove  that  any  of  the  Japanese  actu- 
ally committed  the  crime  which  had  been  contemplated,  and  all 
the  accused  are  discharged. 

It  is  very  much  to  the  credit  of  the  Japanese  authorities  that 
they  frankly  published  these  incriminating  facts,  and  did  not 
attempt  to  suppress  them.  Their  action  discharging  the  accused 
was  a candid  statement  that,  in  spite  of  the  actual  proof  which 
they  adduced,  it  would  not  be  possible  to  punish  the  perpetrators 
of  the  outrage,  for  Miura  had  been  sent  as  the  accredited  min- 
ister of  Japan,  and  his  acts,  though  unforeseen  by  his  superiors, 
could  not  but  partake  of  an  official  character,  and  therefore  the 
onus  of  the  affair  must  fall  on  the  Japanese  government.  This 
is  the  effect  that  was  produced  in  the  public  mind,  and,  while 
the  Japanese  government  as  such  must  be  acquitted  of  any 
intention  or  desire  to  secure  the  assassination  of  the  Queen,  yet 
it  can  scarcely  escape  the  charge  of  criminal  carelessness,  in 
according  to  the  Korean  court  a representative  who  would  so 
far  forget  the  dignity  of  his  position  as  to  plan  and  encourage 
the  perpetration  of  such  a revolting  crime. 

The  description  of  the  scene,  as  given  by  the  Hiroshima  court, 
stops  abruptly  with  the  entrance  into  the  palace  before  the  actual 
business  of  the  day  began.  It  is  necessary  for  us  to  take  up 
the  narration  from  that  point.  The  buildings  occupied  by  the 
King  and  Queen  were  near  the  back  of  the  palace  enclosure, 
almost  half  a mile  from  the  front  gate,  so  that  the  Japanese  and 
Korean  force,  accompanied  by  the  ex-regent,  had  to  traverse  a 
long  succession  of  passageways  through  a great  mass  of  build- 
ings before  reaching  the  object  of  their  search.  Some  of  the 
palace  guard  were  met  on  the  way  and  easily  pushed  aside,  some 
of  them  being  killed,  among  whom  was  Colonel  Hong.  Wdien 
the  Japanese  arrived  at  the  buildings  occupied  by  their  majesties, 
a part  of  them  formed  about  it  in  military  order,  guarding  all 
the  approaches,  but  they  did  not  enter  the  building.  A crowd 
of  Japanese  civilians,  commonly  believed  to  be  sosJiij  and  a 


A PALACE-WOMAN  IN  FULL  REGALIA 


I 

4 


i 


THE  ASSASSINATION  OF  THE  QUEEN  139 


considerable  number  of  Koreans,  all  heavily  armed,  rushed  into 
the  royal  quarters.  A part  of  the  crowd  went  into  the  presence 
of  the  King,  brandishing  their  weapons,  but  without  directly 
attacking  his  person  nor  that  of  the  Crown  Prince,  who  stood 
beside  him.  Another  part  of  the  crowd  ranged  through  the 
apartments  of  the  Queen,  seizing  palace  women  and  demanding 
information  as  to  the  whereabouts  of  the  Queen.  They  met 
Yi  Kyung-jik,  the  Minister  of  the  Household,  before  the  Queen’s 
apartments  and  at  once  cut  him  down,  but  he  managed  to  crawl 
into  the  presence  of  the  King,  where  he  was  despatched  by  the 
Japanese.  The  Queen  was  found  in  one  of  the  rooms  which 
constituted  her  suite,  and  was  ruthlessly  butchered.  It  is  impos- 
sible to  state  with  absolute  certainty  whether  the  blow  was  struck 
by  a Korean  or  by  a Japanese,  but  the  overwhelming  probability 
is  that  it  was  done  by  one  of  the  armed  Japanese. 

The  body  was  wrapped  in  some  sort  of  blanket,  saturated 
with  petroleum,  and  burned  at  the  edge  of  a pine  grove  imme- 
diately to  the  east  of  the  pond  which  lies  in  front  of  the  royal 
quarters. 

The  royal  family  had  been  aware  for  two  days  of  the  danger 
which  threatened.  The  guards  at  the  palace  had  been  reduced, 
the  arms  had  been  taken  away,  and  the  movements  of  Japanese 
troops  were  veiy  suspicious.  The  King  advised  the  Queen  to 
go  to  a place  of  safety,  and  she  said  she  would  do  so  if  the 
Queen  Dowager  would  also  go,  but  the  latter  refused.  Chong 
Pyung-ha,  who  had  been  raised  to  high  office  through  the 
patronage  of  the  Queen,  but  who  had  struck  hands  with  the 
Japanese,  urged  with  great  insistence  that  there  was  no  danger 
to  her  Majesty’s  person,  and  it  was  the  confidence  expressed  by 
this  traitor  that  did  the  most  to  set  at  rest  the  apprehension  of 
the  King  and  the  Queen. 

During  all  the  time  leading  up  to  these  events  the  palace 
guard  was  in  charge  of  General  Dye,  but  his  efforts  to  carry 
out  the  wishes  of  his  Majesty  were  continually  thwarted,  and 
the  guard  was  merely  a nominal  one. 


140 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


At  about  the  time  when  the  Queen  was  being  killed,  the 
Taiwunkun  came  into  the  presence  of  the  King,  and  took  the 
direction  of  affairs  at  the  court.  As  might  be  supposed,  both 
the  King  and  the  Crown  Prince  were  in  anything  but  an  enviable 
frame  of  mind.  They  had  been  pushed  about  and  insulted  by 
low  Japanese,  and  felt  that  their  lives  were  momentarily  in 
danger.  Colonel  Yi  Kyung-jik,  the  Minister  of  the  Household 
Department,  had  taken  his  stand  at  the  door  of  the  Queen’s 
apartments,  and  had  there  been  cut  down  by  the  Japanese  or 
Koreans,  but  succeeded  in  making  his  way,  desperately  wounded, 
into  the  presence  of  the  King.  He  was  there  stabbed  to  death 
by  the  Japanese  before  the  eyes  of  his  iMajesty.  This  did  not 
tend  to  reassure  the  King  and  the  Crown  Prince,  but  the  coming 
of  the  Taiwunkun  tended  to  quiet  them  somewhat.  Of  course 
they  had  no  idea  as  yet  that  the  Queen  had  been  despatched. 

Before  dawn  began  to  break  the  King  learned  that  Japanese 
troops  were  pouring  into  the  barracks  in  front  of  the  palace, 
and,  as  some  semblance  of  order  had  been  restored  in  the  imme- 
diate presence  of  his  Majesty,  a note  was  sent  in  haste  to  the 
Japanese  minister,  asking  what  all  this  meant.  The  messenger 
found  Miura  and  Sugimura  already  up  and  dressed,  and  sedan 
chairs  at  the  door.  Miura  told  the  messenger  that  he  had  heard 
that  troops  had  been  marched  to  the  barracks,  but  did  not  know 
why.  The  minister  and  his  secretary  thereupon  proceeded  rap- 
idly to  the  palace.  Immediately  upon  their  arrival  all  the  dis- 
turbance suddenly  quieted  down,  and  the  soshi  dispersed  and 
left  the  palace  grounds.  The  Japanese  minister  and  secretary 
immediately  sought  an  audience  with  his  IMajesty,  accompanied 
only  by  an  interpreter  and  another  Japanese  who  had  led  the 
soshi.  The  ex-regent  was  also  present. 

Three  documents  were  prepared  by  those  present  and  placed 
before  his  Majesty  for  signature,  one  of  them  guaranteeing  that 
the  Cabinet  should  thereafter  manage  the  affairs  of  the  country, 
the  second  appointing  Yi  Cha-myun,  the  King’s  brother,  as  IMin- 
ister  of  the  Household  in  place  of  Yi  Kyung-jik,  who  had  just 


THE  ASSASSINATION  OF  THE  QUEEN  141 


been  killed,  and  the  third  appointing  a vice-Minister  of  the 
Household.  These  documents  the  King  perforce  signed.  There- 
upon all  Japanejse  troops  were  removed  from  the  palace,  and 
only  the  Japanese-trained  Korean  troops  were  left  as  a palace- 
guard.  Later  in  the  day  ministers  of  war  and  police  were 
appointed  in  the  persons  of  Cho  Heui-yun  and  Kwun  Yung- jin, 
both  strong  partisans  of  the  Japanese,  and  doubtless  privy  to 
the  attack  upon  the  palace  and  the  murder  of  the  Queen.  In 
other  words,  the  King  and  court  were  surrounded  by  men  every 
one  of  whom  were  in  sympathy  with  the  movement  which  had 
been  planned  by  Viscount  Miura. 

Very  early  in  the  morning,  while  it  was  still  scarcely  day- 
light, Mr.  Waeber,  the  Russian  Charge  d’ Affaires,  and  Dr.  Allen, 
the  American  Charge  d’ Affaires  ad  interim,  came  to  the  palace 
and  sought  audience  with  the  King,  but  were  told  that  the  King 
was  unwell  and  could  not  see  them.  They  insisted,  however, 
and  succeeded  in  seeing  his  Majesty,  who  told  them  that  he  still 
had  hopes  that  the  Queen  had  escaped,  and  besought  their  friendly 
offices  to  prevent  further  trouble.  Other  foreign  representatives 
were  received  later  in  the  day. 

It  soon  became  evident  that  the  Japanese  authorities  intended 
to  deny  any  responsibility  for  the  outrages  committed.  Miura 
stated  in  his  despatches  to  his  government  that  the  origin  of 
the  cmeiite  was  a conflict  between  the  Japanese-drilled  Korean 
troops,  who  desired  to  lay  a complaint  before  his  Majesty,  and 
the  palace  guards,  who  tried  to  prevent  their  entrance  into  the 
palace.  Miura  even  sought  to  strengthen  his  disclaimer  by 
obtaining  from  the  newly  appointed  Minister  of  War  a deflnite 
official  statement  that  the  rumours  of  his  (Miura’s)  complicity 
in  the  affair  were  without  foundation.  The  document  that  the 
Minister  of  War  sent  in  reply  proved  altogether  too  much  and 
defeated  its  own  purpose,  for  it  stated  baldly  that  there  was  not 
a single  Japanese  in  the  palace  on  the  night  of  the  8th  of 
October  when  the  Queen  was  murdered.  As  this  minister  was 
a creature  of  the  Japanese,  and  as  the  presence  of  Japanese  in 


142 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


>the  palace  was  clearly  proved  subsequently,  it  is  evident  that 
Aliura,  by  this  sort  of  trickery,  only  succeeded  in  further  impli- 
cating himself. 

On  the  9th,  the  day  after  the  cmcutc,  a full  Cabinet  was 
appointed,  composed  entirely  of  Japanese  sympathisers,  but,  with 
one  or  two  exceptions,  they  were  not  privy  to  the  assassination 
■of  the  Queen,  though  they  were  willing  to  profit  by  that  crime 
in  accepting  office  at  the  hands  of  the  perpetrators. 

One  would  have  supposed  that  the  enemies  of  the  Queen 
would  liave  been  satisfied  by  her  death,  but  not  so.  On  the 
nth,  three  days  after  her  assassination,  an  edict,  purporting 
to  have  originated  with  his  Majesty  and  signed  by  the  full 
Cabinet,  appeared  in  the  “ Court  Gazette.”  In  it  the  Queen  is 
charged  with  having  interfered  in  public  matters,  disturbed  the 
government  and  put  the  dynasty  in  peril.  It  is  stated  that  she 
has  disappeared,  and  that  her  guilt  is  excessive;  therefore  she 
is  deposed  from  her  rank  as  Queen  and  reduced  to  the  level  of 
tlie  lowest  class. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  this  edict  is  fraudulent.  The 
King  ne\'er  gave  his  consent  to  it,  and  several  of  the  members  of 
the  Cabinet  knew  nothing  about  it,  notably  Sim  Sang-hun,  who 
had  already  thrown  up  his  position  and  run  away,  and  Pak 
'Chong-yang,  who  denounced  the  nefarious  business  and  resigned. 
It  was  put  through  by  a few  of  the  Cabinet  who  were  thoroughly 
subservient  to  the  Japanese.  The  Japanese  minister,  in  reply 
to  the  announcement  of  the  Queen’s  degradation,  affected  to 
sympathise  with  the  Korean  government,  but  thought  it  was 
done  for  the  good  of  the  state.  The  United  States  representa- 
tive refused  to  recognise  the  decree  as  coming  from  his  Majesty, 
and  in  this  he  was  seconded  by  all  the  other  foreign  representa- 
tives except  one. 

Meanwhile  the  Japanese  government  began  to  learn  some- 
thing of  the  truth  in  regard  to  the  Queen’s  death,  and  felt  called 
upon  to  defend  itself  from  the  charge  of  complicity  in  the  out- 
rage through  its  accredited  minister.  Consequently  it  recalled 


THE  ASSASSINATION  OF  THE  QUEEN  143 


^liura  and  Sugimura,  and  upon  their  arrival  in  Japan  they  were 
.arrested  and  charged  with  instigating  the  outrage.  The  fact 
of  their  arrest  and  trial  was  a distinct  disclaimer  on  the  part 
of  the  Japanese  government  that  it  was  accessory  to  the  crime; 
.and,  in  spite  of  the  utter  inadequacy  of  the  trial  and  its  almost 
ludicrous  termination,  we  hold  to  the  theory  that  the  Japanese 
g-overnment  was  not  a party  to  the  crime,  excepting  in  so  far 
as  the  appointment  of  such  a man  as  Miura  can  be  called 
■complicity. 

But  the  vigorous  action  of  Japan  in  arresting  Miura  and 
putting  him  on  trial  had  a strong  influence  upon  the  course  of 
e^’ents  in  Korea.  The  Korean  public  and  all  the  foreign  repre- 
sentatives were  demanding  that  the  occurrences  of  the  8th  of 
October  should  be  investigated,  and  the  responsibility  for  the 
murder  of  the  Queen  placed  where  it  rightly  belonged.  This 
itself  bore  strongly  upon  the  Cabinet,  but  when,  in  addition  to 
this,  the  Japanese  government  itself  seemed  to  be  weakening, 
and  it  appeared  that  IMiura’s  acts  would  prove  to  have  been 
unauthorised,  things  began  to  look  rather  black  for  the  men 
who  were  enjoying  office  solely  through  Miura’s  influence,  and, 
.although  the  fiction  was  still  maintained  that  the  Queen  was  not 
•dead  but  in  hiding  somewhere,  the  situation  became  more  and 
more  strained,  until  at  last  it  became  evident  even  to  the  Cabinet 
that  something  must  be  done  to  relieve  the  situation.  Accord- 
ingly, on  the  26th  of  November,  the  foreign  representatives  and 
several  other  foreigners  were  invited  to  the  palace,  and  it  was 
announced  in  the  presence  of  his  Majesty  that  Cho  Heui-yun, 
the  Minister  of  War,  and  Kwun  Yung-jin,  the  Chief  of  Police, 
were  dismissed,  that  the  edict  degrading  the  Queen  was  rescinded, 
and  that  the  facts  connected  with  the  attack  on  the  palace  would 
be  investigated  by  the  Department  of  Justice  and  all  guilty  per- 
sons tried  and  punished.  At  the  same  time  the  death  of  her 
IMajesty  was  formally  announced. 

The  position  of  his  IMajesty  during  the  months  succeeding 
tlie  attack  was  anything  but  comfortable.  He  had  no  voice  in 


144 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


the  direction  of  affairs,  and  he  considered  himself  practically  a 
prisoner  in  the  hands  of  the  Cabinet.  He  even  feared  for  his  life, 
and  for  weeks  ate  no  food  except  what  Avas  brought  to  him  in 
a locked  box  from  friends  outside  the  palace.  He  had  requested 
that  two  or  three  foreigners  should  come  to  the  palace  each  night 
and  be  at  hand  in  case  of  trouble,  feeling  that  their  presence 
would  exert  a deterrent  influence  upon  any  who  might  plot  injury 
to  his  person. 

The  half-way  measures  adopted  on  the  26th  of  November  by 
no  means  satisfled  those  who  wished  to  see  his  Majesty  freed  from 
practical  durance  at  the  hands  of  men  thoroughly  obnoxious  to 
him,  and  a scheme  was  evolved  by  a number  of  Koreans  to  effect 
his  release  by  forcible  means.  The  purpose  of  these  men  was 
a laudable  one,  but  the  execution  of  it  Avas  ill-managed.  On  the 
night  of  the  28th,  upAvards  of  a thousand  Koreans  demanded 
entrance  into  the  palace.  They  had  arranged  Avith  one  of  the 
members  of  the  palace  guard,  inside,  to  open  the  gate  to  them, 
but  at  the  last  moment  he  failed  them,  and  they  found  themselves 
balked.  The  palace  Avas  in  some  confusion ; the  King  had  called 
in  to  his  presence  the  three  foreigners  Avho,  at  his  request,  Avere 
on  duty  that  night,  but  in  spite  of  their  assurances  that  his  person 
Avould  be  protected  it  Avas  only  natural  that  excitement  should 
run  high.  The  croAvd  Avithout  Avere  shouting  Avildly  and  attempt- 
ing to  scale  the  high  Avail,  and  the  members  of  the  Cabinet,  before 
the  King,  did  not  knoAv  at  Avhat  moment  the  guard  might  betray 
them  to  the  assailants,  and  they  kneAv  that  once  betrayed  they 
Avould  be  torn  to  pieces  Avithout  mercy.  They  tried,  therefore, 
to  induce  the  King  to  remove  to  a distant  part  of  the  palace. 
Avhere  he  could  hide  for  a long  time  before  he  could  be  found, 
even  though  the  croAvd  should  effect  an  entrance.  The  night 
Avas  bitterly  cold,  and  the  King  Avas  but  lightly  clad ; and  as  the 
King’s  person  Avas  safe  in  any  event,  the  foreigners  Avho  Avere 
Avith  him  opposed  the  move  strongly,  and  at  last  Avere  compelled 
to  use  physical  force  to  preA'ent  the  change,  Avhich  Avould  certainly 
have  endangered  the,  King’s  life.  The  purpose  of  the  Cabinet  Avas 


THE  ASSASSINATION  OF  THE  QUEEN  145 


thus  thwarted,  but  as  the  hours  passed  it  became  evident  that 
the  men  outside  would  not  be  able  to  effect  an  entrance.  The 
shouts  gradually  died  away,  and  at  last  the  crowd  dispersed, 
leaving  in  the  hands  of  the  palace  guard  three  or  four  men 
who  had  scaled  the  wall  but  had  not  been  followed  by  their 
confreres. 

In  view  of  the  attitude  of  the  Tokyo  government,  the  Japanese 
in  Seoul  were  now  entirely  quiescent,  and  the  government  was 
standing  on  its  own  base.  The  Cabinet  held  its  own  by  virtue 
of  the  palace  guard,  which  was  composed  of  the  soldiers  trained 
by  the  Japanese.  This  Cabinet  and  guard  held  together  from 
necessity,  for  both  knew  that  should  their  power  fail  they  would 
be  denounced  as  traitors,  and  under  the  circumstances  could 
expect  little  help  from  the  Japanese.  The  Cabinet  had  to  make 
a show  of  investigating  the  attack  of  the  5th  of  October,  and 
someone  must  be  killed  for  having  murdered  the  Queen.  At 
the  same  time  punishment  was  to  be  meted  out  to  the  principals 
in  the  attempt  on  the  palace  on  the  28th  of  November. 

Three  men  were  arrested  and  charged  with  being  directly 
implicated  in  the  crime  of  regicide.  Of  these  one  was  certainly 
innocent,  and  while  the  second  was  probably  privy  to  the  crime, 
being  a lieutenant  of  the  Japanese-trained  troops,  there  was  no 
evidence  adduced  to  prove  his  actual  participation  in  the  act  of 
assassination.  As  a fact,  the  court  did  not  know  and  never  dis- 
covered who  the  actual  perpetrators  were.  The  three  men  were 
executed  before  the  end  of  the  year. 

Though  only  three  men  were  arrested  in  connection  with  the 
assassination  of  the  Queen,  thirty-three  men  were  arrested  in  con- 
nection with  the  comparatively  trivial  affair  of  the  28th  of  Novem- 
ber. Their  trial  proceeded  simultaneously  with  that  of  the  other 
three.  Two  of  them  were  condemned  to  death,  four  to  exile  for 
life,  and  four  to  three  years’  imprisonment.  To  show  the  kind 
of  evidence  on  which  these  convictions  were  based,  we  will  cite 
the  case  of  Prince  Yi  Cha-sun,  who  was  proved  to  have  gotten 
hold  of  some  compromising  documents  and  to  have  shown  them 


146 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


to  the  King  only,  instead  of  to  the  proper  authorities,  namely,  of 
course,  the  Cabinet.  On  these  grounds  he  was  sentenced  to  three 
years’  imprisonment. 

December  and  January  saw  matters  move  to  an  inevitable 
climax.  The  Cabinet  forced  upon  the  people  the  edict  ordering 
the  cutting  off  of  the  top-knot,  the  distinctive  mark  of  Korean 
citizenship.  The  whole  country  was  in  a ferment,  and  the  people, 
almost  to  a man,  were  gnashing  their  teeth  at  the  Cabinet.  The 
finding  of  the  Hiroshima  court  claimed  to  have  freed  iMiura  and 
his  fellows  from  blame,  and  it  was  rumoured  that  several  of  them 
were  to  return  to  Korea  to  take  office  under  the  government.  It 
was  perfectly  evident,  therefore,  that  the  grip  of  the  Japanese 
upon  the  King  through  the  Gaoler  Cabinet  was  tightening,  and 
that  there  was  no  escape  from  it  except  through  heroic  measures. 
These  measures  the  King  was  prepared  to  adopt  rather  than 
longer  endure  the  humiliating  position  to  which  he  seemed 
condemned. 

He  determined  to  find  asylum  in  the  Russian  legation. 
C.  A'aeber  was  the  Russian  minister,  a pronounced  friend  of 
the  dead  Queen  and  a man  of  great  ability.  Just  how  he  was 
approached  and  his  consent  gained  to  the  King’s  scheme  is  not 
generally  known ; but  in  view  of  subsequent  events,  and  the 
part  that  Russia  intended  to  play  in  Korea,  it  is  easy  to  see  how 
the  Russian  representative  would  welcome  an  opportunity  to  da 
the  King  such  a signal  service,  and  one  which  was  of  such  a 
personal  character  as  to  render  it  certain  that  it  would  never  be 
forgotten. 

The  plan  was  carried  out  successfully  in  every  detail. 
\\Tmen’s  chairs  were  caused  to  be  sent  in  and  out  the  palace 
gates  at  frequent  intervals  by  day  and  night,  until  the  gaiards  had 
become  quite  accustomed  to  them.  Then  on  the  night  of  th.e 
iith  of  February  the  King  and  the  Crown  Prince  without 
escort  slipped  by  the  guards  in  common  women’s  chairs,  and 
were  taken  directly  to  the  Russian  legation,  where  they  were 
courteously  recei^•ed  and  given  the  best  portion  of  the  legation 


THE  ASSASSINATION  OF  THE  QUEEN  147 


building'.  This  act  was,  of  course,  a grievous  lapse  from  the 
dignity  that  befits  a king,  but  under  the  circumstances  there  is 
much  to  say  by  way  of  excuse.  On  the  whole,  it  must  be  con- 
sidered a mistake  so  far  as  the  country  at  large  is  concerned,  for 
it  set  in  motion  a new  set  of  factors  which  probably  did  more 
harm  than  the  temporary  enforced  seclusion  of  the  King  could 
have  done.  It  acted  as  a potent  factor  in  embittering  the  Jap- 
anese against  Russia,  and  opened  the  door  for  Russian  intrigue, 
which  finally  hastened  if  it  did  not  actually  cause  the  Russo- 
Japanese  war.  Had  Japan  been  able  to  preserve  the  predomi- 
nance which  she  held  in  Korea  just  after  the  China-Japan  war, 
she  might  have  looked  with  more  or  less  complacency  upon  the 
Russian  aggression  in  Manchuria,  but  when  Korea  itself  became 
disputed  ground  the  war  was  inevitable. 

At  seven  o’clock  on  the  morning  of  the  nth  of  February  the 
King  and  the  Crown  Prince  entered  the  Russian  legation.  Several 
hours  elapsed  before  the  Cabinet  in  the  palace  became  aware  of 
the  fact.  During  that  interval  active  operations  were  going  on 
at  the  Russian  legation.  The  organisation  of  a new  Cabinet  was 
hastened  by  summoning  from  various  parts  of  the  city  such 
officials  as  the  King  could  trust.  Pak  Chong-yang  was  made 
prime  minister.  No  time  was  lost  in  putting  out  a royal  edict 
deprecating  the  necessity  of  taking  refuge  in  a foreign  legation,, 
promising  to  punish  the  real  authors  of  the  Queen’s  assassination, 
rescinding  the  order  for  cutting  the  top-knots.  This  was  posted 
on  the  gates  of  the  legation  and  at  various  points  throughout 
the  city. 


CHAPTER  X 


THE  INDEPENDENCE  CLUB 

WHEN  the  public  awoke  to  the  momentous  fact,  a 
thrill  of  excitement  and  generally  of  approval  went 
through  the  whole  population  of  Seoul.  The  city 
hummed  with  excited  humanity.  The  streets 
swarmed  with  the  crowds  bent  upon  watching  the  course  of 
such  stirring  events. 

Later  in  the  day  the  King  put  forth  an  edict  calling  upon 
the  soldiers  to  rally  to  his  support,  and  urging  that  the  members 
of  the  Cabinet  should  be  seized  and  turned  over  to  the  proper 
authorities  for  trial. 

As  soon  as  it  became  known  in  the  palace  that  the  King  had 
fled,  the  three  leading  members  of  the  Cabinet  saw  that  their  lives 
were  forfeited.  O Yun-jung  managed  to  escape  to  the  country, 
but  was  set  upon  and  killed  by  the  people;  Cho  Heui-yun 
escaped;  Yu  Kil-jun  was  spirited  away  to  Japan  by  the  Jap- 
anese ; but  Kim  Hong-jip  and  Chong  Pyung-ha  were  seized  by 
the  Korean  soldiers,  and  immediately  rushed  by  the  crowd  and 
killed.  Their  bodies  were  hauled  to  Chong-no,  where  they"  were 
stamped  upon,  kicked,  bitten  and  stoned  by  a half-crazed  rabble 
for  hours.  A Japanese  who  happened  to  be  passing  was  set 
upon  by  the  crowd  and  killed,  and  several  foreigners  drawn  to 
the  spot  by  curiosity  were  threatened. 

To  say  that  the  Japanese  were  nonplussed  by  this  coup  on 
the  part  of  the  King  would  be  to  put  it  very  mildly.  All  their 
efforts  to  consolidate  their  power  in  Korea,  and  to  secure  there 
some  fruit  of  the  victoiy  in  the  war  just  finished,  had  been 
worse  than  thrown  away.  The  King  had  cast  himself  into 
the  arms  of  Russia,  and  the  whole  Korean  people  were  worked 


THE  INDEPENDENCE  CLUB 


149 


up  to  a white  heat  against  Japan,  comparable  only  with  the 
feelings  elicited  by  the  invasion  of  1592.  It  was  a very  great 
pity,  for  Japan  was  in  a position  to  do  for  Korea  infinitely 
more  than  Russia  would  do.  The  interests  of  Korea  and  Japan 
were  identical,  or  at  least  complementary,  and  the  mistake  which 
Japan  made  in  the  latter  half  of  1895  was  one  whose  effects 
will  require  decades  to  efface. 

But  the  Japanese  authorities,  though  thrown  into  conster- 
nation by  this  radical  movement  of  his  Majesty,  did  not  give 
up  hope  of  mending  matters.  The  Japanese  minister  saw  the 
King  at  the  Russian  legation,  and  urged  upon  him  every  pos- 
sible argument  for  returning  to  tbe  palace.  His  Majesty,  how- 
ever, being  now  wholly  relieved  from  anxiety  as  to  his  personal 
safety,  enjoyed  the  respite  too  thoroughly  to  cut  it  short,  and 
so  politely  refused  to  change  his  place  of  residence.  A large 
number  of  Japanese  in  Seoul  became  convinced  that  Japan  had 
hopelessly  compromised  herself,  and  left  the  country,  but  the 
Japanese  government  itself  by  no  act  or  word  granted  that  her 
paramount  influence  in  the  peninsula  was  impaired,  and  with 
admirable  sang  froid  took  up  the  new  line  of  work  imposed 
upon  her  by  the  King’s  peculiar  action,  meanwhile  putting  down 
one  more  score  against  Russia,  to  be  reckoned  with  later. 

Now  that  it  was  possible,  the  King  hastened  to  order  a new 
investigation  of  the  circumstances  attending  the  death  of  the 
Queen.  It  was  feared  that  this  would  result  in  a very  sweeping 
arrest  of  Koreans,  and  the  punishment  of  many  people  on  mere 
suspicion,  but  these  fears  were  ill-founded.  The  trials  were 
carried  through  under  the  eye  of  Mr.  Greathouse,  the  adviser 
to  the  law  department  and  a man  of  great  legal  ability.  Thir- 
teen men  were  arrested  and  tried  in  open  court  without  torture 
and  with  every  privilege  of  a fair  trial.  One  man,  Yi  Whi-wha, 
was  condemned  to  death,  four  banished  for  life,  and  five  for 
lesser  periods.  This  dispassionate  trial  was  not  the  least  of  the 
signs  which  pointed  toward  a new  and  enlightened  era  in  Korean 
political  history. 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


150 

It  will  be  remembered  that  ever  since  the  previous  year 
Dr.  Philip  Jaisohn  had  been  acting  as  Adviser  to  the  Privy  Coun- 
cil. This  Council  enjoyed  considerable  power  at  first,  but  gradu- 
ally fell  to  a secondary  place;  but  now  that  new  conditions  had 
sprung  up,  the  element  combating  the  Russian  influence  took 
advantage  of  the  presence  of  Dr.  Jaisohn  and  other  Koreans 
who  had  been  educated  abroad.  The  Russians  seemed  to  look 
with  complacency  upon  this  movement,  and  in  the  spring  of  this 
year  seem  to  have  made  no  effort  to  prevent  the  appointment  of 
J.  McLeavy  Brown,  LL.D.,  as  Adviser  to  the  Finance  Depart- 
ment, with  large  powers ; which  seemed  to  bear  out  the  belief 
that  the  Russian  minister  was  sincere  in  his  statement  that 
Russia  wished  the  King  to  be  quite  untrammelled  in  the  admin- 
istration of  his  government.  It  is  this  generous  policy  of 
]\Ir.  Waeber  that  is  believed  to  have  caused  his  transfer  later  to 
another  post,  to  be  replaced  by  A.  de  Speyer,  who  adopted  a 
very  different  policy.  However  this  may  have  been,  things 
began  to  take  on  a very  hopeful  aspect  in  Seoul.  Needed 
reforms  were  carried  through ; torture  was  abolished  in  the 
Seoul  courts;  a concession  was  given  to  an  American  company 
to  construct  a railway  between  Seoul  and  Chemulpo;  IMin  Yong- 
whan  was  appointed  special  envoy  to  the  coronation  of  the  Czar ; 
work  was  begun  on  the  American  mining  concession  granted 
the  year  before,  various  schools  were  founded,  and  the  outlook 
on  the  whole  was  very  bright  indeed.  It  looked  as  if  a solution 
had  been  found  for  the  difficulties  that  afflicted  the  state,  and  that 
an  era  of  comparatively  enlightened  government  was  opening. 

For  some  time  there  had  existed  a more  or  less  secret  organi- 
sation among  the  Koreans,  the  single  article  of  whose  political 
creed  was  independence  both  from  China  and  Japan,  or,  in  other 
words,  “ Korea  for  Koreans.”  Now  that  the  King  had  been 
relieved  of  Chinese  suzerainty  by  the  Japanese  and  of  Japanese 
restraint  by  himself,  this  little  society,  under  the  leadership  of  Dr. 
Philip  Jaisohn,  blossomed  out  into  what  was  called  The  Indcl>cnd- 
ence  Club.  The  name  but  partially  described  the  society,  for. 


TWO  OF  THE  FOREIGN  LEGATIONS  IN  KOREA 
The  top  picture  is  the  Russian  and  the  lower  the  British  Legation 


THE  INDEPENDENCE  CLUB 


151 

while  it  advocated  the  complete  independence  of  Korea,  it  still 
more  insistently  advocated  a liberal  government,  in  the  shape  of  a 
genuine  constitiitional  monarchy,  in  which  the  royal  prerogative 
should  be  largely  curtailed  and  the  element  of  paternalism  elim- 
inated. At  first  the  greater  stress  was  laid  upon  the  general 
principle  of  Korean  independence,  and  to  this  the  King,  in  the 
joy  of  his  newly  found  freedom,  heartily  agreed.  The  royal 
sanction  was  given  to  the  Independence  Club,  and  it  was  launched 
upon  a voyage  which  had  no  haven,  but  ended  in  total  shipwreck. 
This  club  society  was  composed  of  young  men,  many  of  whom 
were  doubtless  aroused  for  the  time  being  to  something  like 
patriotic  fervour,  but  who  had  had  no  practical  experience  of  the 
rocky  road  of  Korean  politics  or  of  the  obstacles  which  would 
be  encountered.  The  cordiality  of  the  King’s  recognition  blinded 
them  to  the  fact  that  the  real  object  of  their  organisation, 
namely,  the  definition  of  the  royal  prerogative,  was  one  that 
must  eventually  arouse  first  the  suspicion  and  then  the  open  hos- 
tility of  his  Majesty,  and  would  become  the  slogan  of  all  that 
army  of  self-seekers  who  saw  no  chance  for  self-aggrandisement 
except  in  the  immemorial  spoils  system.  These  young  men 
were  armed  with  nothing  but  a laudable  enthusiasm.  They 
could  command  neither  the  aid  of  the  Korean  army  nor  the 
advocacy  of  the  older  statesmen,  all  of  whom  were  either  directly 
hostile  to  the  movement  or  had  learned  caution  through  connec- 
tion with  previous  abortive  attempts  to  stem  the  tide  of  official 
corruption.  The  purpose  of  this  club,  so  far  as  it  knew  its  own 
mind,  was  a laudable  one  in  theory,  but  the  amount  of  persist- 
ency, courage,  tact  and  self-restraint  necessary  to  carry  the  plan 
to  a successful  issue  was  so  immensely  greater  than  they  could 
possibly  guess  that,  considering  the  youth  and  inexperience  of 
the  personnel  of  the  society,  the  attempt  was  doomed  to  failure. 
They  never  clearly  formulated  a constructive  plan  by  which  to 
build  upon  the  ruins  of  that  system  which  they  were  bent  upon 
destroying. 

On  the  7th  of  April  the  first  foreign  newspaper  was  founded 


152 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


by  Dr.  Philip  Jaisohn.  It  was  called  “ The  Independent,”  and 
was  partly  in  the  native  character.  From  the  first  it  exerted  a 
powerful  influence  among  the  Koreans,  and  was  one  of  the  main 
factors  which  led  to  the  formation  of  the  Independence  Club. 

Both  Japan  and  Russia  were  desirous  of  coming  to  an  under- 
standing as  to  Korea,  and  on  the  14th  of  May  there  was  published 
the  Waeber-Komura  Agreement,  which  was  modified  and  rati- 
fied later  under  the  name  of  the  Lobanoff-Yamagata  Agreement. 
According  to  the  terms  of  this  convention,  both  powers  guar- 
anteed to  respect  the  independence  of  Korea,  and  not  to  send 
soldiers  into  the  country  except  by  common  consent. 

The  summer  of  1896  saw  great  material  improvements  in 
Seoul.  The  work  of  clearing  out  and  widening  the  streets  was 
vigorously  pushed,  and,  although  much  of  the  work  was  done 
superficially,  some  permanent  improvement  was  effected,  and 
the  “ squatters  ” along  the  main  streets  were  cleaned  out,  it  is 
hoped  for  all  time.  In  July  the  concession  for  building  a rail- 
way between  Seoul  and  Wiju  was  given  to  a French  syndicate. 
From  subsequent  events  it  appears  that  there  was  no  fixed  deter- 
mination on  the  part  of  the  French  to  push  this  great  engineer- 
ing work  to  a finish,  but  merely  to  preempt  the  ground  and 
prevent  others  from  doing  it.  Russian  influence  doubtless  accom- 
plished this,  and  from  that  time  there  began  to  spring  up  the 
idea  that  Korea  would  be  divided  into  two  spheres  of  influence, 
the  Japanese  predominant  in  the  south  and  the  Russians  in  the 
north. 

In  spite  of  the  favourable  signs  that  appeared  during  the 
early  months  of  1896,  and  the  hopes  which  were  entertained 
that  an  era  of  genuine  reform  had  been  entered  upon,  the  com- 
ing of  summer  began  to  reveal  the  hollowness  of  such  hopes. 
The  King  himself  was  strongly  conservative,  and  never  looked 
with  favour  upon  administrative  changes,  which  tended  to  weaken 
his  personal  hold  upon  the  finances  of  the  country,  and  he  chafed 
under  the  new  order  of  things.  In  this  he  was  encouraged  by 
many  of  the  leading  officials,  who  saw  in  the  establishment  of 


THE  INDEPENDENCE  CLUB 


153 


liberal  institutions  the  end  of  their  opportunities  for  personal 
power  and  aggrandisement.  The  old  order  of  things  appealed 
to  them  too  strongly,  and  it  became  evident  that  the  govern- 
ment was  rapidly  lapsing  into  its  former  condition  of  arbitrary 
and  partisan  control.  Open  and  violent  opposition  to  such  harm- 
less innovations  as  the  wearing  of  foreign  uniforms  by  the  stu- 
dents of  foreign  language  schools  indicated  too  plainly  the 
tendency  of  the  time,  and  the  Russian  authorities  did  nothing 
to  influence  his  Majesty  in  the  right  direction.  Judging  from 
subsequent  events,  it  was  not  Russia’s  policy  to  see  an  enlight- 
ened administration  in  Seoul.  The  political  plans  of  that  power 
could  be  better  advanced  by  a return  to  the  status  quo  ante. 
The  act  of  the  government  in  substituting  an  independence  arch 
in  place  of  the  former  gate,  outside  the  west  gate,  which  com- 
memorated Chinese  suzerainty,  was  looked  upon,  and  rightly, 
by  the  more  thoughtful  as  being  merely  a superficial  demonstra- 
tion which  was  based  upon  no  deeper  desire  than  that  of  being 
free  from  all  control  or  restraint  except  such  as  personal  incli- 
nation should  dictate.  The  current  was  setting  toward  a con- 
centration of  power  rather  than  toward  a healthful  distribution  of 
it,  and  thus  those  who  had  hailed  the  vision  of  a new  and  reju- 
venated state  were  compelled  to  confess  that  it  was  but  a mirage. 

Pressure  was  brought  to  bear  upon  the  court  to  remove  • 
from  the  Russian  legation,  and  it  was  high  time  that  such  a 
move  be  made.  As  a matter  of  urgent  necessity,  it  was  con- 
sidered a not  too  great  sacrifice  of  dignity  to  go  to  the  lega- 
tion, but  to  make  it  a permanent  residence  was  out  of  the 
question.  The  King  was  determined,  however,  not  to  go  back 
to  the  palace  from  which  he  had  fled.  It  held  too  many  grue- 
some memories.  It  was  decided  to  build  the  Myung-ye  Palace 
in  the  midst  of  the  foreign  quarter  with  legations  on  three  sides 
of  it.  The  present  King  intended  it  as  a permanent  residence, 
and  building  operations  were  begun  on  a large  scale,  but  it  was 
not  until  Eebruary  of  the  following  year  that  his  Majesty  finally 
removed  from  the  Russian  legation  to  his  new  palace. 


154 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


All  during  the  latter  half  of  1896  the  gulf  between  the 
independence  party  and  the  conservatives  kept  widening.  The 
latter  grew  more  and  more  confident  and  the  former  more  and 
more  determined.  Dr.  Jaisohn,  in  his  capacity  of  Adviser  to  the 
Council  of  State,  was  blunt  and  outspoken  in  his  advice  to  his 
iMajesty,  and  it  was  apparent  that  the  latter  listened  with  grow- 
ing impatience  to  suggestions  which,  however  excellent  in  them- 
selves, found  no  response  in  his  own  inclinations.  The  Minister 
of  Education  voiced  the  growing  sentiment  of  the  retrogressive 
faction  in  a book  called  “ The  \\"arp  and  Woof  of  Confucian- 
ism,” in  which  such  extreme  statements  were  made  that  several 
of  the  foreign  representatives  felt  obliged  to  interfere  and  call 
him  to  account.  A chief  of  police  was  appointed  who  was  vio- 
lently anti-reform.  The  assassin  of  Kim  Ok-kyun  was  given 
an  important  position  under  the  government.  A man  who  had 
attempted  the  life  of  Pak  Yong-hyo  was  made  ^Minister  of  Law, 
and  on  all  sides  were  heard  contemptuous  comments  upon  the 
“ reform  nonsense  ” of  the  liberal  faction.  And  yet  in  spite  of 
this  the  momentum  of  the  reform  movement,  though  somewhat 
retarded,  had  by  no  means  been  completely  stopped.  The  sum- 
mer and  autumn  of  this  3^ear,  1896,  saw  the  promulgation  of  a 
large  number  of  edicts  of  a salutary  nature,  relating  to  the  more 
systematic  collection  of  the  national  revenues,  the  reorganisation 
of  gubernatorial  and  prefectural  systems,  the  definition  of  the 
powers  and  privileges  of  provincial  officials,  the  further  regula- 
tion of  the  postal  system,  the  definition  of  the  powers  of  the 
superintendents  of  trade  in  the  open  ports,  the  abolition  of  illegal 
taxation,  and  the  establishment  of  courts  of  law  in  the  various 
provinces  and  in  the  open  ports.  As  many  of  these  reforms 
survived  the  collapse  of  the  liberal  part)’,  they  must  be  set  down 
as  definite  results  which  justify  the  existence  of  that  party  and 
make  its  overthrow  a matter  of  keen  regret  to  those  who  have 
at  heart  the  best  interests  of  the  country. 

All  this  time  Russian  interests  had  been  cared  for  sedulously. 
The  King  remained  in  close  touch  with  the  legation,  and  Colonel 


THE  INDEPENDEXCE  CLUB 


155 


Potiata  and  three  other  Russian  officers  were  put  in  charge  of 
the  palace  guard,  while  Kim  Hong-nyuk,  the  erstwhile  water- 
carrier,  continued  to  absorb  the  good  things  in  the  gift  of  his 
IMajesty.  And  yet  the  Russians  with  all  their  power  did  not 
attempt  to  obstruct  the  plans  of  the  subjects  of  other  powers  in 
Korea.  Mr.  Stripling,  a British  subject,  was  made  Adviser  to 
the  Police  Department  ; a mining  concession  was  granted  to  a 
German  syndicate;  an  American  was  put  in  charge  of  a normal 
school;  Dr.  Brown  continued  to  direct  the  work  of  the  Finance 
Department,  and  the  work  on  the  Seoul  Chemulpo  Railway  was 
pushed  vigorously  by  an  American  syndicate.  The  Russians 
held  in  their  hands  the  power  to  put  a stop  to  much  of  this,  but 
they  appeared  to  be  satisfied  with  holding  the  power  without 
exercising  it. 

The  first  half  of  1897  was  characterised  by  three  special 
features  in  Korea.  The  first  was  a continuance  of  so-called 
reforms,  all  of  which  were  of  a utilitarian  character.  A gold- 
mine concession  was  given  to  a German  syndicate,  a Chinese 
Language  School  and  other  schools  were  founded  and  the  difficult 
w’ork  of  cleaning  out  the  Peking  Pass  was  completed.  It  was 
announced  that  Chinnampo  and  Mokpo  would  be  opened  to  trade 
in  the  autumn.  The  second  feature  was  the  steady  growth  of 
the  conservative  element  which  was  eventually  to  resume  com- 
plete control  of  the  government.  As  early  as  May  of  this  year 
the  editor  of  the  Korean  Repository  said,  with  truth : “ The 
collapse  is  as  complete  as  it  is  pathetic.  After  the  King  came  to 
the  Russian  legation  the  rush  of  the  reform  movement  could 
not  be  stayed  at  once  nor  even  deflected.  But  soon  there  came 
the  inevitable  reaction.  Reforms  came  to  be  spoken  of  less  and 
less  frequently.  There  was  a decided  movement  backwards 
toward  the  old,  well-beaten  paths.  But  it  was  impossible  to 
re-establish  the  old  order  of  things  entirely.  We  come  then  to 
the  period  of  the  revision  of  laws.  Shortly  after  the  King 
removed  to  the  new  palace  an  edict  was  put  forth  ordering  the 
appointment  of  a Commission  for  the  revision  of  the  laws.  This 


156 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


was  received  with  satisfaction  by  the  friends  of  progress.  This 
Commission  contained  the  names  of  many  prominent  men,  such 
as  Kim  Pyung-si,  Pak  Chong-yang  and  Yi  Wan-yong,  as  well 
as  the  names  of  Dr.  Brown,  General  Greathouse,  Mr.  Legendre 
and  Dr.  Jaisohn.”  But  by  the  12th  of  April  the  whole  thing 
was  dropped,  and  the  strong  hopes  of  the  friends  of  Korea  were 
again  dashed  to  the  ground.  The  third  feature  of  this  period  is 
the  growing  importance  of  Russian  influence  in  Seoul.  The 
training  of  the  Korean  army  had  already  been  taken  out  of 
Japanese  hands  and  given  to  Russians,  and  in  August  thirteen 
more  Russian  military  instructors  were  imported.  It  was  plain 
that  Russia  meant  to  carry  out  an  active  policy  in  Korea.  Rus- 
sian admirals,  including  Admiral  Alexeieff,  made  frequent  visits 
to  Seoul,  and  at  last  Russia  made  public  avowal  of  her  purposes 
when  she  removed  Mr.  Waeber,  who  had  serv^ed  her  so  long  and 
faithfully  here,  and  sent  Air.  A.  de  Speyer  to  take  his  place. 
There  was  an  immediate  and  ominous  change  in  the  tone  which 
Russia  assumed.  From  the  very  first,  De  Speyer  showed  plainly 
that  he  was  sent  here  to  impart  a new  vigour  to  Russo-Korean 
relations  ; that  things  had  been  going  too  slow.  It  is  probable 
that  complaints  had  been  made  because  in  spite  of  Russia’s  pre- 
dominating influence  at  the  Korean  court  concessions  were  being 
given  to  Americans,  Germans  and  others  outside.  De  Speyer 
soon  showed  the  colour  of  his  instructions  and  began  a course 
of  browbeating,  the  futility  of  which  must  have  surprised  him. 
It  was  on  the  7th  of  September  that  he  arrived,  and  within  a month 
he  had  begun  operations  so  actively  that  he  attracted  the  atten- 
tion of  the  world.  In  the  first  place  he  demanded  a coaling  station 
at  Fusan  on  Deer  Island,  which  commands  the  entrance  to  the 
harbour.  This  was  a blow  aimed  directly  at  Japan  and  sure  to 
be  resented.  It  came  to  nothing.  Then  Air.  Kir  Alexeieft 
arrived  from  Russia,  an  agent  of  the  Finance  Department  in  St. 
Petersburg.  In  the  face  of  the  fact  that  Dr.  Brown  was  Chief 
Commissioner  of  Custom  and  Adviser  to  the  Finance  Depart- 
ment, Air.  Alexeieff  was  appointed  by  the  Foreign  Office  as 


THE  INDEPENDENCE  CLUB 


157 


Director  of  the  Einance  Department.  But  the  policy  of  bluff 
which  De  Speyer  had  inaugurated  was  not  a success ; he  carried 
it  so  far  that  he  aroused  the  strong  opposition  of  other  powers, 
notably  England,  and  before  the  end  of  the  year,  after  only 
three  months  of  incumbency,  De  Speyer  was  called  away  from 
Seoul.  As  we  shall  see,  the  whole  of  his  work  was  overthrown 
in  the  following  spring. 

But  we  must  retrace  our  steps  a little  and  record  some  other 
interesting  events  that  happened  during  the  closing  months  of 
1897.  It  was  on  the  17th  of  October  that  the  King  went  to  the 
Imperial  Altar  and  there  was  crowned  Emperor  of  Taihan.  This 
had  been  some  time  in  contemplation,  and  as  Korea  was  free  from 
foreign  suzerainty  she  hastened,  while  it  Avas  time,  to  declare 
herself  an  empire.  This  step  was  recognised  by  the  treaty 
powers  within  a short  period,  and  so  Korea  took  her  place  on 
an  equality  with  China  and  Japan. 

On  the  2 1st  of  November  the  funeral  ceremony  of  the  late 
Queen  was  held.  It  was  a most  imposing  pageant.  The  funeral 
procession  passed  at  night  out  of  the  city  to  the  tomb,  where 
elaborate  preparations  had  been  made,  and  a large  number  of 
foreigners  assembled  to  witness  the  obsequies. 

The  situation  in  Korea  as  the  year  1898  opened  was  some- 
thing as  follows.  The  Conservatives  had  things  well  in  hand,  and 
the  Independence  Club  was  passing  on  to  its  final  effort  and  its 
final  defeat.  The  Avork  of  such  men  as  Dr.  Jaisohn  was  still 
tolerated;  but  the  King  and  the  most  influential  officials  chafed 
under  the  wholesome  advice  that  they  received,  and  it  Avas  evident 
that  the  first  pretext  Avould  be  eagerly  seized  for  terminating  a 
situation  that  Avas  getting  very  aAvkAvard  for  both  sides.  The 
reaction  was  illustrated  in  an  attack  on  the  “ Independent,”  by 
which  the  Korean  postal  department  refused  to  carry  it  in  the 
mails.  The  Russians  had  taken  the  bull  by  the  horns,  and  Avere 
finding  that  they  had  undertaken  more  than  they  could  carry 
through  without  danger  of  serious  complications.  The  Russian 
government  saw  this,  and  recalled  De  Speyer  in  time  to  preserve 


158 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


much  of  their  influence  in  Seoul.  The  Emperor,  being  now  in  his 
own  palace,  but  with  easy  access  to  the  Russian  legation,  seems 
to  have  lent  his  voice  to  the  checking  of  the  reform  propaganda, 
and  in  this  he  was  heartily  seconded  by  his  leading  officials.  The 
most  promising  aspect  of  the  situation  was  the  determined  atti- 
tude of  the  British  government  relative  to  the  enforced  retire- 
ment of  Dr.  Brown.  When  it  became  evident  that  a scarcely 
concealed  plan  was  on  foot  to  oust  British  and  other  foreigners 
in  Korea,  Great  Britain  by  a single  word  and  by  a concentration 
of  war-vessels  at  Chemulpo  changed  the  whole  programme  of  the 
Russians;  but,  as  it  appeared  later,  the  Russian  plans  were  only 
changed,  not  abandoned.  So  the  year  opened  with  things  polit- 
ical in  a very  unsettled  state.  Everything  was  in  transition.  The 
Independents  and  the  Russians  had  some  idea  of  what  they 
wanted,  but  seemed  to  be  at  sea  as  to  the  means  for  accomplish- 
ing it.  The  Conservatives  alone  sat  still  and  held  on,  sure  that  in 
the  long  run  they  would  triumph  even  if  they  could  not  stop  the 
march  of  material  progress  in  the  cleaning  of  the  streets  and  tlie 
building  of  railways. 

February  of  1898  saw  the  taking  off  of  the  most  commanding 
figure  in  Korean  public  life  during  the  nineteenth  century,  in  the 
person  of  Prince  Taiwun,  the  father  of  the  Emperor,  formerly 
regent.  For  almost  forty  years  he  had  been  more  or  less  inti- 
mately connected  with  the  stirring  events  which  have  marked 
the  present  reign.  The  things  which  specially  marked  his  career 
are  (i)  the  Roman  Catholic  persecution  of  1866,  (2)  the  deter- 
mined opposition  to  tlie  opening  of  the  country  to  foreign 
intercourse,  (3)  the  building  of  the  Kyongbok  Palace,  (4)  the 
debasing  of  Korean  currency,  (5)  the  feud  with  the  Queen's 
party,  (6)  the  temporary  exile  in  China,  (7)  the  assassination 
of  the  Queen,  ^^'hate^'er  may  be  said  for  or  against  the  prince 
because  of  his  policy,  he  remains  in  the  minds  of  the  people  a 
strong,  independent  character,  and  they  cannot  fail  to  admire 
the  man  e^■en  though  they  have  to  condemn  his  policy.  His 
adherents  stood  by  him  with  splendid  loyalty  even  in  the 


THE  INDEPENDENCE  CLUB 


159 


liours  of  his  disgrace,  because  he  was  in  some  sense  really 
great. 

This  time  was  characterised  by  curious  inconsistencies.  At 
the  same  time  that  an  edict  was  promulgated  stating  that  no 
more  concessions  would  be  granted  to  foreigners,  the  Seoul  Elec- 
tric Company  was  organised  to  construct  a tramway  and  a light- 
ing plant  in  Seoul.  Material  improvements  continued  parallel 
with,  but  in  the  opposite  direction  from,  the  policy  of  the  gov- 
ernment. An  agreement  was  even  entered  into  with  an  American 
firm  for  the  construction  of  a system  of  water-works  for  Seoul 
at  a cost  of  some  seven  million  yen. 

The  failing  hopes  of  the  Independence  Club  drove  it  to  its 
final  place,  that  of  protest.  Memorials  began  to  pour  in,  pro- 
testing against  this  and  that.  In  February  it  complained  of 
foreign  control  in  Korea,  directing  the  attack  apparently  upon 
the  Russian  pretensions ; but  if  so,  it  was  unnecessary,  for  by 
the  1st  of  March  the  Russians  decided  that  their  position  was 
untenable,  or  that  a temporary  withdrawal  of  pressure  from 
Seoul  would  facilitate  operations  in  other  directions,  and  so, 
under  cover  of  a complaint  as  to  the  vacillating  policy  of  the 
Korean  government,  they  proposed  to  remove  Mr.  Alexeieff  from 
his  uncomfortable  position  vis-a-vis  Dr.  Brown  and  also  take 
away  all  the  military  instructors.  Perhaps  they  were  under  the 
impression  that  this  startling  proposal  would  frighten  the  gov- 
ernment into  making  protestations  that  would  increase  Russian 
influence  here ; but  if  so,  they  were  disappointed,  for  the  govern- 
ment promptly  accepted  their  proposition  and  dispensed  with 
the  services  of  these  men.  No  doubt  the  government  had  come 
to  look  with  some  anxiety  upon  the  growing  influence  of  Russia 
here,  and  with  the  same  oscillatory  motion  as  of  yore  made  a 
strong  move  in  the  opposite  direction  when  the  opportunity  came. 
The  Korean  government  has  been  nearly  as  astute  as  Turkey  in 
playing  off  her  “ friends  ” against  each  other. 

Just  one  month  later,  the  12th  of  April,  N.  Matunine  relieved 
Mr.  de  Speyer,  the  Russo-Korean  bank  closed  its  doors,  the  Rus- 


i6o 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


sian  military  and  other  officers  took  their  departure,  and  a very 
strained  situation  was  relieved  for  the  time  being. 

The  summer  of  this  year  furnished  Seoul  with  some  excite- 
ment in  the  shape  of  a discovered  conspiracy  to  force  the  King 
to  abdicate,  place  the  Crown  Prince  on  the  throne,  and  institute 
a new  era  in  Korean  history.  The  plot,  if  such  it  may  be  called, 
was  badly  planned  and  deservedly  fell  through.  It  was  one  of 
the  foolish  moves  called  out  by  the  excitement  engendered  in 
the  Independence  movement.  An  Kyung-su,  ex-president  of  the 
Independence  Club,  was  the  party  mainly  implicated,  and  he 
saved  himself  only  by  promptly  decamping  and  putting  himself 
into  the  hands  of  the  Japanese. 

August  saw  the  fall  of  Kim  Hong-nyuk,  the  former  Russian 
interpreter,  who  ruffled  it  so  proudly  at  court  on  account  of  his 
connection  with  the  Russian  legation.  For  a year  he  had  a good 
time  of  it  and  amassed  great  wealth ; but  when  the  Russians 
withdrew  their  influence  in  March  of  this  year,  Kim  lost  all  his 
backing,  and  thenceforward  his  doom  was  as  sure  as  fate  itself. 
The  genuine  noblemen  whose  honours  he  had  filched  were  on 
his  track,  and  in  August  he  was  accused,  deposed  and  banished. 
This  did  not  satisfy  his  enemies,  however ; but  an  opportunity  came 
when,  on  the  loth  of  September,  an  effort  was  made  to  poison 
the  Emperor  and  the  Crown  Prince.  The  attempt  came  near 
succeeding,  and  in  the  investigation  which  followed  one  of  the 
scullions  deposed  that  he  had  been  instructed  by  a friend  of  Kim 
Hong-nyuk  to  put  something  into  the  coffee.  How  Kim,  away 
in  banishment,  could  have  had  anything  to  do  with  it  would  be 
hard  to  tell.  He  may  have  conceived  the  plan,  but  the  verdict 
of  a calm  and  dispassionate  mind  must  be  that  he  probably  knew 
nothing  about  it  at  all.  However,  in  such  a case  someone  must 
suffer.  The  criminal  must  be  found;  and  it  is  more  than  prob- 
able that  those  who  hated  Kim  Hong-nyuk  thought  he  would  make 
an  excellent  scapegoat.  He  was  tried,  condemned  and  executed. 

The  month  of  September  witnessed  better  things  than  these, 
however.  The  Japanese  obtained  their  concession  for  the  Seoul- 


THE  INDEPENDENCE  CLUB 


i6i 


Fusan  Railway,  — an  event  of  great  importance  every  way,  and 
one  that  will  mean  much  to  Korea. 

In  September  the  Independence  Club  determined  that  it  would 
be  well  to  put  forward  a programme  of  work  in  place  of  the 
merely  destructive  criticism  which  had  for  some  time  character- 
ised its  policy.  An  appeal  was  made  to  the  general  public  to 
assemble,  in  order  to  suggest  reforms.  Whether  this  was  wise 
or  not  is  a question.  A popular  assembly  in  Korea  is  hardly 
capable  of  coming  to  wise  conclusions  or  to  participate  in  plans 
for  constructive  statesmanship.  In  addition  to  this  an  appeal  to 
the  people  was  inevitably  construed  by  the  Conservatives  as  a des- 
perate measure  which  invited  revolution.  In  a sense  they  were 
justified  in  so  thinking,  for  the  general  populace  of  Korea  never 
have  risen  in  protest  imless  the  evils  under  which  they  are  suffer- 
ing have  driven  them  to  the  last  court  of  appeal,  mob  law.  The 
move  was  in  the  direction  of  democracy,  and  no  one  can  judge 
that  the  people  of  Korea  are  ready  for  any  such  thing. 

However  this  may  be,  a mass  meeting  was  held  at  Chong-no, 
to  which  representatives  of  all  classes  were  called.  The  following 
articles  were  formulated  and  presented  to  the  Cabinet  for  imperial 
sanction : 

1.  Neither  officials  nor  people  shall  depend  upon  foreign 
aid,  but  shall  do  their  best  to  strengthen  and  uphold  the  imperial 
power. 

2.  All  documents  pertaining  to  foreign  loans,  the  hiring  of 
foreign  soldiers,  the  granting  of  concessions,  etc.,  in  fact  every 
document  drawn  up  between  the  Korean  government  and  a 
foreign  party  or  firm,  shall  be  signed  and  sealed  by  all  the  Min- 
isters of  State  and  the  President  of  the  Privy  Council. 

3.  Important  offenders  shall  be  punished  only  after  they 
have  been  given  a public  trial  and  ample  opportunity. to  defend 
themselves. 

4.  To  his  Majesty  shall  belong  the  power  to  appoint  Min- 
isters, but  in  case  a majority  of  the  Cabinet  disapproves  of  the 
Emperor’s  nominee  he  shall  not  be  appointed. 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


162 


5.  All  sources  of  revenue  and  methods  of  raising  taxes 
shall  be  placed  under  the  control  of  the  Finance  Department,  no 
other  department,  officer  or  corporation  being  allowed  to  inter- 
fere therewith ; and  the  annual  estimates  and  balances  shall  be 
made  public. 

6.  The  existing  laws  and  regulations  shall  be  enforced  with- 
out fear  or  favour. 

It  will  be  seen  that  several  of  these  measures  strike  directly 
at  powers  which  have  been  held  for  centuries  by  the  King  him- 
self, and  it  cannot  be  supposed  that  his  IMajesty  would  listen  will- 
ingly to  the  voice  of  the  common  people  when  they  demanded 
such  far-reaching  innovations.  The  whole  thing  was  utterly  dis- 
tasteful to  him,  but  the  united  ?aice  of  the  people  is  a serious 
matter.  These  demands  were  not  such  as  would  involve  any 
immediate  changes ; they  all  looked  to  the  future.  So  it  was  an 
easy  matter  simply  to  comply  with  the  demands  and  wait  for  the 
public  feeling  to  subside.  On  the  last  day  of  September  his 
Majesty  ordered  the  carrying  out  of  these  six  propositions. 

The  trouble  was  that  the  Conservatives  felt  that  they  had  not 
sufficient  physical  power  to  oppose  a popular  uprising.  The  tem- 
porary concession  was  made  with  no  idea  of  real  compliance,  and 
was  immediately  followed  by  measures  for  securing  a counter 
demonstration.  The  instrument  selected  for  this  purpose  was 
the  old-time  Peddlers’  Guild.  This  was  a defunct  institution,, 
but  the  name  survived,  and  the  Conservatives  used  it  to  bring 
together  a large  number  of  men  who  were  ready  for  any  sort  of 
work  that  would  mean  pay.  These  were  organised  into  a com- 
pany whose  duty  it  was  to  run  counter  to  all  popular  demonstra- 
tions like  those  which  had  just  been  made.  No  sooner  Avas  this 
hireling  band  organised  than  his  IMajesty,  in  pursuance  of  the 
hint  dropped  some  months  before  by  the  president  of  the  Inde- 
pendence Club,  ordered  the  disbanding  of  the  club.  From  this 
time  on  the  Independence  Club  was  no  longer  recognised  by  the 
government,  and  was  an  illegal  institution,  by  the  very  terms 
of  the  unfortunate  admission  of  its  president  that  the  Emperor 


THE  INDEPENDENCE  CLUB 


163; 


could  at  any  time  disband  it  by  imperial  decree.  Mr.  Yun  Chi-hO' 
had  by  this  time  come  to  see  that  the  club  was  running  to  dan- 
gerous extremes,  and  was  likely  to  cause  serious  harm ; and  he 
and  others  worked  with  all  their  power  to  curb  the  excitement 
and  secure  rational  action  on  the  part  of  the  members  of  the  club. 
But  the  time  when  such  counsels  could  prevail  had  already  passed. 
The  club  knew  that  the  principles  it  advocated  were  correct,  and 
it  was  angry  at  the  stubborn  opposition  that  it  met.  It  was  ready 
to  go  to  any  lengths  to  secure  its  ends.  Passion  took  the  place 
of  judgment,  and  the  overthrow  of  the  opposition  loomed  larger 
in  its  view  than  the  accomplishment  of  its  rational  ambitions. 

Instead  of  dispersing  in  compliance  with  the  imperial  order, 
the  assembled  Independents  went  in  a body  to  the  police  head- 
quarters and  asked  to  be  arrested.  This  is  a peculiarly  Korean 
mode  of  procedure,  the  idea  being  that  if  put  on  trial  they  would 
be  able  to  shame  their  adversaries ; and  incidentally  it  embar- 
rassed the  administration,  for  the  prisons  would  not  suffice  to 
hold  the  multitude  that  clamoured  for  incarceration.  The  crowd 
was  altogether  too  large  and  too  determined  for  the  peddlers  to- 
attack,  and  another  concession  had  to  be  made.  The  Inde- 
pendents, for  it  can  no  longer  be  called  the  Independent  Club, 
offered  to  disperse  on  condition  that  the}^  be  guaranteed  freedom 
of  speech.  The  demand  was  immediately  complied  with ; any- 
thing to  disperse  that  angry  crowd  which  under  proper  leader- 
ship might  at  any  moment  do  more  than  make  verbal  demands. 
So  on  the  next  day  an  imperial  decree  granted  the  right  of  free 
speech.  This  concession,  likewise,  was  followed  by  a hurried 
muster  of  all  the  peddlers  and  their  more  complete  organisation. 
Backed  by  official  aid  and  imperial  sanction,  they  were  prepared 
to  come  to  blows  with  the  people  who  should  assemble  for  the 
purpose  of  making  further  demands  upon  the  Emperor. 

The  Conservatives  now  deemed  themselves  strong  enough  to 
try  conclusions  with  the  outlawed  club,  and  before  daylight  of 
the  5th  of  November  seventeen  of  the  leading  men  of  the  Inde- 
pendence Club  were  arrested  and  lodged  in  jail.  Mr.  Yun,  the- 


164 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


president,  narrowly  escaped  arrest.  It  was  afterAvards  ascer- 
tained that  the  plan  of  the  captors  was  to  kill  the  president  of 
the  club  before  he  could  receive  aid  from  the  enraged  people. 

When  morning  came  and  the  arrest  became  known,  the  city 
hummed  like  a bee-hive.  A surging  crowd  was  massed  in  front 
of  the  Supreme  Court,  demanding  loudly  the  release  of  the 
prisoners  who  had  been  accused,  so  the  anonymous  placards 
announced,  of  conspiring  to  establish  a Republic ! Again  the  pop- 
ular feeling  was  too  strong  for  the  courage  of  the  peddler  thugs, 
and  they  remained  in  the  background.  The  agitation  continued 
all  that  day  and  the  next  and  the  next,  until  the  authorities  were 
either  frightened  into  submission  or,  deeming  that  they  had 
shown  the  Independents  a glimpse  of  what  they  might  expect, 
released  the  arrested  men.  But  the  Independents,  so  far  from 
being  cowed,  hailed  this  as  a vindication  of  their  policy,  and 
attempted  to  follow  up  the  defeat  of  the  Conservatives  by  demand- 
ing the  arrest  and  punishment  of  the  people  Avho  had  played  the 
trick  upon  the  club.  As  these  men  were  very  prominent  officials 
and  had  the  ear  of  the  Emperor,  it  was  not  possible  to  obtain  the 
redress  demanded.  So  the  month  of  November  wore  away  in 
a ferment  of  excitement.  Popular  meetings  were  frequent,  but 
the  crowd  had  not  the  determination  to  come  to  conclusions  with 
the  government.  The  Conservatives  saw  this,  and  with  utmost 
nicety  gauged  the  resisting  power  of  the  malcontents.  The 
offensive  tactics  of  the  latter  were  confined  merely  to  free  speech, 
and  the  Conservatives  determined  to  see  what  they  would  do  when 
on  the  defensive.  Accordingly  on  the  morning  of  the  21st  of 
November  a band  of  ruffians,  the  so-called  peddlers,  attacked  the 
people  who  had  gathered,  as  usual,  to  discuss  the  stirring  ques- 
tions of  the  times.  Weapons  were  used,  and  a number  of  people 
were  injured.  The  Independents  had  never  contemplated  the 
use  of  force,  and  this  brutal  assault  aroused  the  ire  of  the  whole 
people,  most  of  whom  had  not  as  yet  taken  sides.  Serious  hand- 
to-hand  fights  occurred  in  various  parts  of  the  city,  and  the 
peddlers,  conscious  that  even  their  most  murderous  attacks  would 


THE  INDEPENDENCE  CLUB  165 

be  condoned  in  high  places,  attempted  to  whip  the  people  into 
something  like  quietude. 

On  the  26th  of  November,  in  the  midst  of  this  chaotic  state 
of  things,  the  Emperor  granted  a great  general  audience  outside 
the  great  gate  of  the  palace.  The  Independence  Club  was  there 
in  force,  and  foreign  representatives  and  a large  number  of  other 
foreign  residents.  It  was  a little  Runnymede,  but  with  a different 
ending.  Yun  Chi-ho  was  naturally  the  spokesman  of  the  Inde- 
pendence party.  He  made  a manly  and  temperate  statement  of 
the  position  of  his  constituents.  He  denounced  the  armed  attacks 
of  the  peddlers  upon  people  who  intended  no  violence  but  only 
desired  the  fulfilment  of  solemnly  made  pledges.  He  called  to 
account  those  who  imputed  to  the  Independence  Club  traitorous 
designs.  He  urged  that  the  legal  existence  of  the  club  should 
be  again  established  by  imperial  decree,  and  that  the  six  measures 
so  definitely  and  distinctly  promised  by  his  Majesty  should  be 
carried  out.  There  was  no  possible  argument  to  oppose  to  these 
requests,  and  the  Emperor  promised  to  shape  the  policy  of  the 
government  in  line  with  these  suggestions.  Again  it  was  mere 
promise,  made  to  tide  over  an  actual  and  present  difficulty.  The 
Independence  party  should  have  recognised  this.  The  Emperor 
was  surrounded  by  men  inimical  to  the  reform  programme ; they 
had  the  police  and  the  army  back  of  thejn  as  well  as  the  peddlers. 
The  Independence  party  had  not  a single  prominent  representa- 
tive in  any  really  responsible  and  influential  government  office. 
They  simply  had  right  and  the  precarious  voice  of  Korean  popu- 
lar feeling  behind  them.  What  was  necessary  was  a campaign 
of  education.  The  programme  advocated  was  one  that  could  be 
carried  out  only  under  a government  whose  personnel  was  at  least 
approximately  up  to  the  standard  of  that  programme.  This  could 
be  claimed  of  only  two  or  three  members  of  the  Independence 
Club.  Having  secured  this  public  promise  of  his  Majesty,  the 
club  should  have  waited  patiently  to  see  what  would  happen,  and 
if  the  promises  were  not  kept  they  should  have  waited  and  worked 
for  a time  when  public  sentiment  among  the  leading  men  would 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


1 66 

compel  reform.  But  as  Mr.  Yun  himself  confesses,  “ The  popu- 
lar meetings  had  gone  beyond  the  control  of  the  Independence 
Club,  and  in  the  face  of  strong  advice  to  the  contrary,  they  were 
resumed  on  the  6th  of  December,  and  their  language  became  care- 
less and  impudent.  On  the  i6th  of  December  the  Privy  Council 
recommended  the  recall  of  Pak  Yong-hyo  from  Japan.  The 
popular  meeting  had  the  imprudence  to  indorse  this  action.  The 
more  conservative  portion  of  the  people  revolted  against  the  very- 
mention  of  the  name.  Suspicion  was  excited  that  the  popular 
agitations  had  been  started  in  the  interests  of  Pak  Yong-hyo,  and 
they  instantly  lost  the  sympathy  of  the  people.”  The  enemies 
of  the  liberal  party  had  probably  used  this  argument  to  its  fullest 
extent,  and  when  it  was  seen  that  the  Independence  movement 
had  at  last  been  deprived  of  its  strongest  support,  the  popular 
voice,  its  enemies  came  down  upon  it  with  cruel  force.  In  spite 
of  voluble  promises  to  the  contrary,  large  numbers  of  the  reform 
party  were  arrested  and  thrown  into  prison ; not,  to  be  sure, 
on  the  charge  of  being  members  of  this  party,  but  on  trumped-up 
charges  of  various  kinds,  especially  that  of  being  accessory  to 
the  plan  of  bringing  back  Pak  Yong-hyo.  And  thus  came  to 
an  end  a political  party  whose  aims  were  of  the  highest  character, 
whose  methods  were  entirely  peaceable,  but  whose  principles 
were  so  far  in  advance  of  the  times  that  from  the  very  first  there 
was  no  human  probability  of  success. 

The  year  1899  opened  with  political  matters  in  a more  quiet 
state  than  for  some  years  past,  owing  to  the  violent  repression 
of  the  Independence  Club  and  the  liberal  mo\  ement.  The  judg- 
ment of  the  future  will  be  that  at  this  point  Japan  made  a serious 
mistake  of  omission.  The  aims  and  purposes  of  the  Independence 
party  were  directly  in  line  with  Japanese  interests  here,  and  if 
that  powerful  government  had  actively  interested  itself  in  the 
success  of  the  movement,  and  had  taken  it  for  granted  that  the 
plan  was  to  be  definitely  carried  out,  the  succeeding  years  would 
have  made  very  different  history  than  they  did.  But  during  all 
this  time  Japan  seems  to  have  retired  into  comparative  quietude. 


THE  INDEPENDENCE  CLUB 


167 


perhaps  because  she  saw  the  approach  of  her  inevitable  struggle 
with  Russia,  and  was  not  willing  to  hasten  matters  by  coming 
into  premature  conflict  with  the  northern  power  in  Korea,  pend- 
ing the  completion  of  her  preparations  for  the  supreme  struggle. 

Through  all  this  period  Russian  influence  was  quietly  at 
work  securing  its  hold  upon  the  Korean  court  and  upon  such 
members  of  the  government  as  it  could  win  over.  The  general 
populace  was  always  suspicious  of  her,  however,  and  always 
preferred  the  rougher  hand  of  Japan  to  the  soft  but  heavy  hand 
of  Russia.  The  progress  of  the  Russian  plans  was  illustrated 
when,  in  January  of  1899,  a Mission  of  the  Greek  Church  was 
established  in  Seoul. 

Before  going  forward  into  the  new  century  we  should  note 
some  of  the  more  important  material  advances  that  Korea  had 
made.  Railway  concessions  for  some  six  hundred  miles  of  track 
had  been  granted,  half  to  Japanese  and  half  to  a French  syndi- 
cate ; several  new  and  important  ports  had  been  opened,  bringing 
the  total  number  up  to  ten,  inclusive  of  Seoul  and  Pyeng-yang; 
mining  concessions  bad  been  given  to  Americans,  English,  Ger- 
mans, French  and  Japanese,  two  of  which  had  proved  at  least 
reasonably  successful ; timber  and  whaling  concessions  had  been 
given  to  Russians  on  the  east  side  of  the  peninsula,  and  impor- 
tant fishing  rights  had  been  given  to  the  Japanese ; an  attempt 
at  a general  system  of  education  had  been  made  throughout  the 
country,  and  the  work  of  publishing  text-books  was  being  pushed ; 
students  were  sent  abroad  to  acquire  a finished  education,  and 
legations  at  all  the  most  important  political  centres  were  estab- 
lished; an  attempt  at  a better  currency  had  been  made,  though 
it  was  vitiated  by  official  corruption  and  tbe  operations  of  coun- 
terfeiters ; trade  had  steadily  increased,  and  the  imports  and 
exports  of  Korea  passed  beyond  the  negligible  stage ; an  excel- 
lent postal  system  had  been  inaugurated  under  foreign  super- 
vision, and  Korea  had  entered  the  Postal  Union. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that,  in  spite  of  all  domestic  political 
complications  and  discouragements,  the  country  was  making 


i68  THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 

definite  advance  along  some  lines.  The  leaven  had  begun  to 
work,  and  no  conservatism  on  the  part  of  the  public  leaders 
could  stop  the  ferment. 

The  necrology  of  the  closing  year  of  the  century  contains 
the  names  of  Mr.  Legendre  and  Mr.  Greathouse,  the  latter  of 
whom,  as  Legal  Adviser  to  the  government,  did  excellent  work  in 
his  department,  and  was  recognised  by  his  employers  as  an  able 
and  efficient  man  in  his  official  capacity. 


CHAPTER  XI 


RUSSIAN  INTRIGUE 

The  return  to  Seoul  of  M.  Pavlow  on  the  15th  of  Jan- 
uary, 1900,  marked  the  definite  beginning  of  that  train 
of  events  which  led  up  to  the  declaration  of  war  by  the 
Japanese  in  1904.  The  Russians  had  been  induced, 
two  years  previously,  to  remove  the  heavy  pressure  which  they 
had  brought  to  bear  upon  the  government,  but  it  was  only  a 
change  of  method.  They  were  now  to  adopt  a policy  of  pure 
intrigue,  and,  by  holding  in  power  Koreans  who  were  hostile 
to  the  Japanese,  to  harass  and  injure  Japanese  interests  in  every 
way  possible. 

At  this  same  time  we  see  a clear  indication  of  the  trend  of 
events  in  the  return  to  Korea  of  An  Kyung-su  and  Kwan  Yung- 
jin,  two  of  the  best  men  that  late  years  had  developed  in  Korea. 
They  had  been  charged  with  connection  with  the  plot  to  compass 
the  abdication  of  his  Majesty,  and  had  taken  refuge  in  Japan. 
Now,  on  the  promise  of  the  government  that  they  should  have 
a perfectly  fair  trial,  and  on  the  guarantee  of  protection  by  the 
Japanese,  they  returned  boldly  to  Korea  and  presented  them- 
selves for  trial.  They  were  strong  men  and  they  had  to  be 
reckoned  with.  They  openly  favoured  Japanese  influence  and 
the  reforms  that  that  influence  was  supposed  to  embody.  In  fact, 
they  were  thoroughly  in  sympathy  with  the  best  motives  of  the 
defunct  Independence  Club.  An  Kyung-su  returned  on  the  15th 
of  January  and  was  held  in  detention  until  the  i6th  of  May,  when 
Kwan  Yung- jin  returned.  They  were  to  stand  a fair  trial,  but 
on  the  night  of  the  27th  of  May  they  were  both  strangled 
secretly  in  the  prison.  No  more  dastardly  crime  ever  stained 
the  annals  of  this  or  any  other  government.  Induced  to  return 


I/O 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


on  the  promise  of  a fair  trial,  they  were  trapped  and  murdered. 
The  reactionists  looked  upon  this  as  a signal  victory,  and  indeed 
it  was  such,  for  it  indicated  clearly  that  a man  was  not  safe 
even  when  he  had  the  guarantee  of  the  Japanese  authorities. 
Nor  would  it  be  difficult  to  indicate  the  source  from  which  the 
government  obtained  the  courage  thus  to  flout  the  Japanese. 

As  the  summer  came  on,  all  interest  in  things  Korean  was 
held  in  suspension,  while  the  great  uprising  in  China  swelled 
to  such  monstrous  proportions,  and  the  investment  of  Peking 
and  the  siege  of  the  foreign  legations  there  left  the  world  no 
time  to  care  for  or  think  of  other  things.  There  were  fears 
that  the  Boxer  movement  would  be  contagious  and  that  it  would 
spread  to  Korea.  Indeed  it  was  reported  in  the  middle  of  July 
that  the  infection  had  reached  northern  Korea ; but  fortunately 
this  proved  false. 

In  spite  of  the  reactionary  policy  of  the  government,  progress 
continued  to  be  made  on  certain  lines,  just  as  the  momentum 
of  a railway  train  cannot  be  checked  the  moment  the  brakes 
are  applied.  A distinguished  French  legalist  was  employed  as 
Adviser  to  the  Law  Department ; mining  concessions  were 
granted  to  British,  French  and  Japanese  syndicates;  the  Gov- 
ernment Middle  School  was  established;  the  Seoul-Chemulpo 
Railway  was  formally  opened;  a French  teacher  was  engaged 
to  open  a School  of  Mines;  a representative  was  sent  to  the 
great  Paris  Exposition. 

This  year,  1900,  was  the  heydey  of  another  paroenu  in  the 
person  of  Kim  Yung-jun.  He  was  a man  without  any  backing 
except  his  own  colossal  effrontery.  He  had  acquired  influence 
by  his  ability  to  get  together  considerable  sums  of  money  irre- 
spective of  the  methods  emplo}^ed.  Scores  of  wealthy  men  were 
haled  to  prison  on  one  pretext  or  another,  and  were  released 
only  upon  the  payment  of  a heavy  sum.  He  was  a man  of 
considerable  force  of  character,  but,  like  so  many  adventurers 
in  Korea,  was  lured  by  his  successes  into  a false  feeling  of 
security.  He  forgot  that  the  history  of  this  country  is  full 


RUSSIAN  INTRIGUE 


171 

of  just  such  cases,  and  that  they  inevitably  end  in  violent  death. 
Even  the  fate  of  Kim  Hong-nyuk  did  not  deter  him,  though  his 
case  was  almost  the  counterpart  of  that  victim  of  his  own  over- 
weening ambitions.  Against  Kim  Yung-jun  was  ranged  the 
whole  nobility  of  the  country,  who  waited  with  what  patience 
they  could  until  his  power  to  extort  money  began  to  wane,  and 
then  fell  upon  him  like  wolves  upon  a belated  traveller  at  night. 
But  it  was  not  until  the  opening  of  the  new  year,  1901,  that  he 
was  deposed,  tried  and  killed  in  a most  horrible  manner.  After 
excruciating  tortures,  he  was  at  last  strangled  to  death. 

But  even  as  this  act  was  perpetrated,  and  the  fate  of  all  such 
adventurers  was  again  illustrated,  another  man  of  the  same  ilk 
was  pressing  to  the  fore.  This  was  Yi  Yong-ik,  who  had  once 
been  the  major  donio  of  one  of  the  high  officials,  and  in  that 
capacity  had  learned  how  to  do  all  sorts  of  interesting,  if 
unscrupulous,  things.  He  was  prominent  in  a felonious  attempt 
to  cheat  the  ginseng  farmers  of  Song-do  out  of  thousands,  back 
in  the  eighties.  He  was  an  ignorant  boor,  and,  even  when 
rolling  in  opulence,  failed  to  make  himself  presentable  in  dress 
or  manner.  He  was  praised  by  some  for  his  scorn  of  luxury, 
and  because  he  made  no  attempt  to  hoard  the  money  that  he 
bled  from  the  veins  of  the  people.  The  reason  he  did  not  hoard 
it  was  the  same  that  makes  the  farmer  sow  his  seed,  that  he 
may  reap  a hundred-fold.  Yi  Yong-ik  sowed  his  golden  seed 
in  fertile  soil,  and  it  yielded  him  a thousand-fold. 

One  of  his  favourite  methods  of  obtaining  money  for  his 
patron  was  to  cause  the  arrest  of  shoals  of  former  prefects  who, 
for  one  cause  or  another,  had  failed  to  turn  into  the  public 
treasury  the  complete  amount  nominally  levied  upon  their 
respective  districts.  These  arrears  went  back  several  years, 
and  many  of  them  were  for  cause.  Either  famine  or  flood  or 
some  other  calamity  had  made  it  impossible  for  the  people  to 
pay  the  entire  amount  of  their  taxes.  There  were  many  cases, 
without  doubt,  in  which  it  was  right  to  demand  the  money  from 
the  ex-prefects,  for  they  had  “eaten”  it  themselves;  but  there 


172 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


were  also  many  cases  in  which  it  was  a genuine  hardship.  Lit- 
erally, hundreds  of  men  were  haled  before  a court  and  made  to 
pay  over  large  sums  of  money,  in  default  of  which  their  prop- 
erty was  seized  as  well  as  that  of  their  relatives.  In  exact  pro- 
portion as  the  huge  sums  thus  extorted  paved  his  way  to  favour 
in  high  places,  in  that  same  proportion  it  drove  the  people  to 
desperation.  The  taking  off  of  Kim  Yung-jun,  so  far  from 
warning  this  man,  only  opened  a larger  door  for  the  exercise 
of  his  peculiar  abilities,  and  it  may  be  said  that  the  official  career 
of  Yi  Yong-ik  began  with  the  opening  of  1901. 

In  March  a Japanese  resident  of  Chemulpo  claimed  to  have 
purchased  the  whole  of  Roze  Island  in  the  harbour  of  Chemulpo. 
The  matter  made  a great  stir,  for  it  was  plain  that  someone  had 
assumed  the  responsibility  of  selling  the  island  to  the  Japanese. 
This  was  the  signal  for  a sweeping  investigation,  which  was 
so  manipulated  by  powerful  parties  that  the  real  perpetrators 
of  the  outrage  were  dismissed  as  guiltless,  br;t  a side  issue  which 
arose  in  regard  to  certain  threatening  letters  that  were  sent  to 
the  foreign  legations  was  made  a peg  upon  which  to  hang  the 
seizure,  trial  and  execution  of  Kim  Yung-jun,  as  before  men- 
tioned. Min  Yung-ju  was  the  man  who  sold  the  island  to  the 
Japanese,  and  he  finally  had  to  put  down  thirty-five  thousand 
yen  and  buy  it  back. 

Russia  made  steady  advances  toward  her  ultimate  goal  dur- 
ing the  year  1901.  In  the  spring  some  buildings  in  connection 
■with  the  palace  were  to  be  erected,  and  the  Chief  Commissioner 
of  Customs,  J.  McLeavy  Brown,  C.  AI.  G.,  was  ordered  to  vacate 
his  house  on  the  customs  compound  at  short  notice.  Soldiers 
even  forced  their  way  into  his  house.  This  affront  was  a serious 
one,  and  one  that  the  Koreans  would  never  have  dared  to  give 
had  they  not  felt  that  they  had  behind  them  a power  that  would 
see  them  through.  The  British  authorities  soon  convinced  the 
government  that  such  tactics  could  be  easily  met,  and  it  had  to 
retreat  with  some  loss  of  dignity. 

Many  of  the  French  gentlemen  employed  by  the  govern- 


RUSSIAN  INTRIGUE 


173 


ment  were  flioroughly  competent  and  rendered  good  service,' 
but  their  presence  tended  to  add  to  the  tension  between  Japan 
and  Russia,  for  it  was  quite  plain  that  all  their  influence  would 
be  thrown  in  the  scale  on  Russia’s  side.  The  attempt  to  loan 
the  Korean,  government  five  million  yen  was  pushed  with  des- 
perate vigour  for  many  months  by  the  French,  but  divided 
counsels  prevented  the  final  consummation  of  the  loan,  and  the 
French  thus  failed  to  secure  the  strong  leverage  which  a heavy 
loan  always  gives  to  the  creditor.  Yi  Yong-ik,  who  had  become 
more  or  less  of  a Russian  tool,  was  pointedly  accused  by  the 
Japanese  of  being  in  favour  of  the  French  loan,  but  he  vigor- 
ously denied  it.  It  is  generally  admitted  that  Yi  Yong-ik  was 
something  of  a mystery  even  to  his  most  intimate  acquaintances, 
and  just  how  far  he  really  favoured  the  Russian  side  will  never 
be  known,  but  it  is  certain  that  he  assumed  a more  and  more 
hostile  attitude  toward  the  Japanese  as  the  months  went  by,  — ■ 
an  attitude  which  brought  him  into  violent  conflict  with  them, 
as  we  shall  see. 

Yi  Yong-ik  posed  as  a master  in  finance,  whatever  else  he 
may  or  may  not  have  been,  and  in  1901  he  began  the  minting 
of  the  Korean  nickel  piece.  No  greater  monetary  disaster  ever 
overtook  this  country.  Even  the  desperate  measures  taken  by 
the  regent  thirty  years  before  had  not  shaken  the  monetary 
system  as  this  did.  The  regent  introduced  the  wretched  five- 
cash  piece,  which  did  enormous  harm,  but  that  five-cash  piece 
was  of  too  small  face  value  to  be  worth  counterfeiting.  The 
nickel  was  the  ideal  coin  to  tempt  the  counterfeiter,  for  its  intrin- 
sic value  was  not  so  great  as  to  require  the  employment  of  a 
large  amount  of  capital,  and  yet  its  face  value  was  sufficient  to 
pay  for  the  labour  and  time  expended.  The  effects  of  this 
departure  will  be  noted  in  their  place.  ' 

In  the  summer  of  1901  Yi  Yong-ik  performed  one  act  that, 
in  the  eyes  of  the  people,  covered  a multitude  of  other  sins.  It 
was  a year  of  great  scarcity.  The  Korean  farmers  raised  barely 
enough  grain  for  domestic  consumption,  and  in  order  to  pre- 


174 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


vent  this  grain  from  being  taken  out  of  the  country  the  govern- 
ment proclaimed  an  embargo  on  its  export.  In  spite  of  the  fact 
that  Japan  was  enjoying  an  unusually  good  crop  and  did  not 
really  need  the  Korean  product,  the  Japanese  authorities,  in  the 
interest  of  the  Japanese  exporters  in  Korea,  brought  pressm'e 
to  bear  upon  the  Korean  government  to  raise  the  embargo, 
utterly  regardless  of  the  interests  of  the  Korean  people.  As  it 
turned  out,  however,  the  enhanced  price  in  Korea,  due  to  the 
famine,  and  the  cutting  of  a full  crop  in  Japan,  prevented  the 
export  of  rice.  But  Yi  Yong-ik  saw  that  there  would  inevitably 
be  a shortage  in  Seoul,  and  with  much  forethought  he  sent  and 
imported  a large  amount  of  Annam  rice,  and  put  it  on  the  market 
at  a price  so  reasonable  that  the  people  were  highly  gratified. 
From  that  time  on  whenever  the  mistakes  of  Yi  Yong-ik  were 
■cited  there  was  always  someone  to  offer  the  extenuation  of  that 
Annam  rice.  It  was  a most  clever  and  successful  appeal  to 
popular  favour. 

As  the  year  1901  came  to  a close,  the  tension  was  beginning 
to  be  felt.  People  were  asking  how  much  longer  Japan  would 
acquiesce  in  the  insolent  encroachments  of  Russia.  But  the  time 
was  not  yet.  As  for  material  advances,  the  year  had  seen  not 
a few.  Seoul  had  been  supplied  with  electric  light.  The  Seoul- 
Fusan  Railway  had  been  begun.  Plans  for  the  Seoul-Wiju  Rail- 
way had  been  drawn  up.  Mokpo  had  been  supplied  with  a 
splendid  sea-wall.  Building  had  gone  on  apace  in  the  capital,  and 
•even  a scheme  for  a system  of  water-works  for  the  city  had  been 
worked  out  and  had  received  the  sanction  of  the  government. 
Education  had  gone  from  bad  to  worse,  and  at  one  time,  when 
retrenchment  seemed  necessary,  it  was  even  suggested  to  close 
some  of  the  schools,  but  better  counsels  prevailed,  and  this  form 
of  suicide  was  rejected. 

With  the  opening  of  the  year  1902  there  were  several  indi- 
cations that  the  general  morale  of  the  government  was  deteri- 
orating. The  first  was  a very  determined  attempt  to  revive  the 
Buddhist  cult.  The  Emperor  consented  to  the  establishment  of 


RUSSIAN  INTRIGUE  • 


1/5 


a great  central  monastery  for  the  whole  country  in  the  vicinity 
of  Seoul,  and  in  it  was  installed  a Buddhist  High  Priest  in 
Chief,  who  was  to  control  the  whole  Buddhist  Church  in  the 
land.  It  was  a ludicrous  attempt,  for  Buddhism  in  Korea  is 
dead  so  far  as  any  specific  influence  is  concerned.  Mixed  with 
the  native  spirit-worship,  it  has  its  millions  of  devotees,  but  it 
is  entirely  unlikely  that  it  could  ever  again  become  a fashionable 
cult. 

Another  evidence  was  the  constant  and  successful  attempt 
to  centralise  the  power  of  the  government  in  the  hands  of  the 
Emperor.  The  overthrow  of  the  Independence  party,  whose 
main  tenet  was  curtailment  of  the  imperial  prerogative,  gave  a 
new  impulse  to  the  enlargement  of  that  prerogative,  so  that  in 
the  year  1902  we  find  almost  all  the  government  business  trans- 
acted in  the  palace  itself.  The  various  ministers  of  state  could 
do  nothing  on  their  own  initiative.  Everything  was  centred  in 
the  throne  and  in  two  or  three  favourites  who  stood  near  the 
throne.  Of  these  Yi  Yong-ik  was  the  most  prominent. 

A third  evidence  of  deterioration  was  the  methods  adopted 
to  fill  the  coffers  of  the  household  treasury.  The  previous  year 
had  been  a bad  one.  Out  of  a possible  twelve  million  dollars 
of  revenue  only  seven  million  could  be  collected.  There  was 
great  distress  all  over  the  country,  and  the  pinch  was  felt  in 
the  palace.  Special  inspectors  and  agents  were  therefore  sent 
to  the  country  armed  with  authority  from  the  Emperor  to  collect 
money  for  the  household  treasury.  These  men  adopted  any  and 
every  means  to  accomplish  their  work,  and  this  added  very 
materially  to  the  discontent  of  the  people.  The  prefects  were 
Aery  loath  to  forego  a fraction  of  the  taxation,  because  they 
saw  how  previous  prefects  were  being  mulcted  because  of  failure 
to  collect  the  full  amount,  and  so  between  the  prefect  and  the 
special  agents  the  people  seemed  to  be  promised  a rather  bad 
time.  In  fact,  it  caused  such  an  outcry  on  every  side  that  the 
government  at  last  reluctantly  recalled  the  special  agents. 

Early  in  the  year  the  fact  was  made  public  that  Korea  had 


176 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


entered  into  an  agreement  with  Russia  whereby  it  was  guaran- 
teed that  no  land  at  Masanpo  or  on  the  island  of  Ko-je,  at  its 
entrance,  should  ever  be  sold  or  permanently  leased  to  any 
foreign  power.  Russia  had  already  secured  a coaling  station 
there,  and  it  was  generally  understood,  the  world  over,  that 
Russia  had  special  interest  in  that  remarkably  fine  harbour. 
Avowedly  this  was  merely  for  pacific  purposes,  but  the  pains 
which  Russia  took  to  make  a secret  agreement  with  Korea, 
debarring  other  powers  from  privileges  similar  to  those  which 
she  had  acquired,  naturally  aroused  the  suspicions  of  the  Jap- 
anese and  of  the  Koreans  themselves,  those  of  them  that  had 
not  been  in  the  secret;  and  this  step,  inimical  to  Japan  as  it 
undoubtedly  was,  probably  helped  to  hasten  the  final  catastrophe. 
Meanwhile  Russian  subjects  were  taking  advantage  of  the  influ- 
ential position  of  their  government  in  Seoul,  and,  through  min- 
isterial influence,  some  glass-makers,  iron-workers  and  weavers 
were  employed  by  the  government  without  the  smallest  prob- 
ability of  their  ever  doing  anything  in  any  of  these  lines.  In 
fact,  at  about  this  time  the  government  was  induced  to  take  on 
quite  a large  number  of  Russians  and  Russian  sympathisers, 
who  never  were  able  to  render  any  service  whatever  in  lieu  of 
their  pay.  In  many  cases  the  most  cursory  investigation  would 
have  shown  that  such  would  inevitably  be  the  result.  It  is  diffi- 
cult to  evade  the  conclusion  that  the  government  was  deliberately 
exploited. 

But  at  this  time  another  and  a far  greater  surprise  was  in 
store  for  the  world.  It  was  the  announcement  of  a defensive 
alliance  between  Japan  and  Great  Britain.  By  the  terms  of 
this  agreement  Japan  and  Great  Britain  guaranteed  to  insure 
the  independence  of  Korea  and  the  integrity  of  the  Chinese 
Empire.  The  tremendous  influence  of  this  historic  document 
was  felt  at  once  in  every  capital  of  Europe  and  in  every  capital, 
port  and  village  of  the  Far  East.  It  stung  the  lethargic  to  life, 
and  it  caused  the  rashly  enthusiastic  to  stop  and  think.  There 
can  be  no  manner  of  doubt  that  this  alliance  was  one  of  the 


RUSSIAN  INTRIGUE 


177 


necessary  steps  in  preparing  for  the  war  which  Japan  already 
foresaw  on  the  horizon.  It  indicated  clearly  to  Russia  that  her 
continued  occupation  of  Manchuria  and  her  continued  encroach- 
ments upon  Korea  would  be  called  in  question  at  some  not  dis- 
tant day.  But  she  was  blind  to  the  warning.  This  convention 
bound  Great  Britain  to  aid  Japan  in  defensive  operations,  and 
to  work  with  her  to  the  preservation  of  Korean  independence 
and  the  integrity  of  China.  It  will  be  seen,  therefore,  that  Japan 
gave  up  once  and  for  all  any  thought  that  she  might  previously 
have  had  of  impairing  the  independence  of  this  country,  and 
any  move  in  that  direction  would  absolve  Great  Britain  from  all 
obligations  due  to  the  signing  of  the  agreement. 

The  year  had  but  just  begun  when  the  operations  of  counter- 
feiters of  nickel  coins  became  so  flagrant  as  to  demand  the 
attention  of  all  who  were  interested  in  trade  in  the  peninsula. 
Japan  had  most  at  stake  and  Russia  had  least,  and  this  explains 
why  the  Russian  authorities  applauded  the  work  of  Yi  Yong-ik 
and  encouraged  him  to  continue  and  increase  the  issue  of  such 
coinage.  In  March  matters  had  come  to  such  a pass  that  the 
foreign  representatives,  irrespective  of  partisan  lines,  met  and 
discussed  ways  and  means  for  overcoming  the  difficulty.  After 
careful  deliberation  they  framed  a set  of  recommendations,  which 
were  sent  to  the  government.  These  urged  the  discontinuance 
of  this  nickel  coinage,  the  withdrawal  from  circulation  of 
spurious  coins,  and  stringent  laws  against  counterfeiting.  But 
this  was  of  little  or  no  avail.  The  government  was  making  a 
five-cent  coin  at  a cost  of  less  than  two  cents,  and  consequently 
the  counterfeiters,  with  good  tools,  could  make  as  good  a coin 
as  the  government,  and  still  realise  enormously  on  the  operation. 
It  was  impossible  to  detect  the  counterfeited  coins  in  many 
cases,  and  so  there  was  no  possibility  of  withdrawing  them  from 
circulation.  The  heavy  drop  in  exchange  was  not  due  merely 
to  the  counterfeiting  but  to  the  fact  that  the  intrinsic  value  of 
the  coin  was  nothing  like  as  much  as  the  face  value,  and  by  an 
immutable  law  of  finance,  as  well  as  of  human  nature,  it  fell  to 


1/8 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


a ruinous  discount.  But  e^'en  this  would  not  have  worked  havoc 
with  trade  if,  having  fallen,  the  discredited  coinage  would  stay 
fallen,  but  it  had  the  curious  trick  of  rising  and  falling  with 
such  sudden  fluctuations  that  business  became  a mere  gamble, 
and  the  heavy  interests  of  Japanese  and  Chinese  merchants  were 
nearly  at  a standstill. 

At  this  point  the  First  Bank  of  Japan,  called  the  Dai  Ichi 
Ginko.  brought  up  a scheme  for  putting  out  an  issue  of  special 
bank  notes  that  would  not  circulate  outside  of  Korea.  Korea 
was  importing  much  more  than  she  exported,  and  the  balance 
of  trade  being  against  her  it  was  impossible  to  keep  Japanese 
l)aper  in  the  country  in  sufficient  quantities  to  carry  on  ordinary 
local  trade.  For  this  reason  the  bank  received  the  sanction  of 
the  Korean  government  to  put  out  this  issue  of  bank  paper, 
which  could  not  be  sent  abroad,  but  would  be  extremely  useful 
as  a local  currency.  This  was  done,  and  it  was  found  to  work 
admirably.  The  Koreans  had  confidence  in  this  money,  and  it 
circulated  freely.  It  had  two  advantages  not  enjoyed  by  any 
form  of  Korean  currency,  namely,  it  was  a stable  currency  and 
suffered  no  fluctuations,  and  it  was  in  large  enough  denomina- 
tions to  make  it  possible  to  transfer  a thousand  dollars  from  one 
man's  pocket  to  that  of  another  without  employing  a string  of 
pack-ponies  to  carry  the  stuff. 

The  one  important  material  improvement  of  the  year  was 
the  adoption  of  a plan  for  the  building  of  some  thirty  light- 
houses on  the  coast  of  Korea.  Ever  since  the  opening  up  of 
foreign  trade,  the  lack  of  proper  lights,  especially  on  the  western 
coast,  had  been  a matter  of  growing  concern  to  shipping  com- 
panies. This  concern  was  warranted  by  the  dangerous  nature 
of  the  coast,  where  high  tides,  a perfect  network  of  islands  and 
oft-prevailing  fogs  made  navigation  a most  difficult  and  danger- 
ous matter.  The  fact  that  lighthouses  ought  to  have  been  built 
ten  years  ago  does  not  detract  from  the  merit  of  those  who  at 
last  took  the  matter  in  hand  and  pushed  it  to  an  issue. 

The  month  of  May  witnessed  a spectacular  event  in  the  cere- 


RUSSIAN  INTRIGUE 


179* 


mony  of  the  formal  opening  of  work  on  the  Seoul-Wiju  Rail- 
way. The  spirit  was  willing,  but  the  flesh  was  weak.  Neither 
French  nor  Russian  money  was  forthcoming  to  push  the  work, 
and  so  the  Korean  government  was  invited  to  finance  the  scheme, 
Yi  Yong-ik  was  made  president  of  the  company,  and,  if  there- 
had  been  a few  thousand  more  ex-prefects  to  mulct,  he  might 
have  raised  enough  money  to  carry  the  road  a few  miles ; but 
it  is  much  to  be  feared  that  his  financial  ability,  so  tenderly 
touched  upon  by  the  Japanese  minister  in  his  speech  on  that 
“ auspicious  occasion,”  was  scarcely  sufficient  for  the  work,  and 
the  plan  was  not  completed.  There  is  much  reason  to  believe 
that  this  whole  operation  was  mainly  a scheme  on  the  part  of 
the  Russians  to  pre-empt  the  ground  in  order  to  keep  the  Jap- 
anese out. 

As  the  year  wore  toward  its  close,  the  usurpation  of  numerous- 
offices  by  Yi  Yong-ik,  and  his  assumption  of  complete  control 
in  the  palace,  bore  its  legitimate  fruit  in  the  intense  hatred  of 
four-fifths  of  the  entire  official  class.  He  was  looked  upon  as 
but  one  more  victim  destined  to  the  same  fate  which  had  over- 
taken Kim  Hong-nyuk  and  Kim  Yung-jun.  But  in  his  case 
the  difficulties  were  much  greater.  Yi  Yong-ik  had  put  awa}^ 
in  some  safe  place  an  enormous  amount  of  government  money, 
and  he  held  it  as  a hostage  for  his  personal  safety.  Until  that 
money  was  safely  in  the  imperial  treasury  even  the  revenge 
would  not  be  sweet  enough  to  make  it  worth  the  loss.  Not  onl}^ 
so,  but  the  whole  finances  of  the  household  were  in  his  hands, 
and  his  sudden  taking  off  would  leave  the  accounts  in  such 
shape  that  no  one  could  make  them  out,  and  enormous  sums- 
due  the  department  would  be  lost.  Yi  Yong-ik  had  fixed  him- 
self so  that  his  life  was  better  worth  than  his  death,  however 
much  that  might  be  desired.  But  the  officiary  at  large  cared 
little  for  this.  There  was  no  doubt  that  the  one  person  who 
should  accomplish  the  overthrow  of  the  favourite,  and  thus 
bring  embarrassment  to  the  imperial  purse,  would  suffer  for  it, 
but  Korean  intrigue  was  quite  capable  of  coping  with  a little 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


I So 

difficulty  like  this.  The  result  must  be  brought  about  by  a 
combination  so  strong  and  so  unanimous  that  no  one  would 
ever  know  who  the  prime  mover  was.  This  at  least  is  a plau- 
sible theory,  and  the  only  one  that  adequately  explains  how  and 
why  the  scheme  miscarried.  The  whole  course  of  the  intrigue 
is  so  characteristically  Korean,  and  includes  so  many  elements 
of  genuine  humour,  in  spite  of  its  object,  that  we  will  narrate 
it  briefly.  It  must  of  course  be  understood  that  the  officials 
were  keenly  on  the  lookout  for  an  opportunity  to  get  the  hated 
favourite  on  the  hip,  and  in  such  a manner  that  even  his  finan- 
cial value  to  the  Emperor  would  not  avail  him. 

One  day,  while  in  conversation  with  Lady  Om,  the  Emperor’s 
favourite  concubine,  who  has  been  mistress  of  the  palace  since 
the  death  of  the  Queen,  Yi  Yong-ik  compared  her  to  Yang 
Kwi-bi,  a concubine  of  ffie  last  Emperor  of  the  Tang  dynasty  in 
China.  He  intended  this  as  a compliment,  but,  as  his  education 
is  very  limited,  he  was  not  aware  that  he  could  have  said  nothing 
more  insulting;  for  Kwi-bi  by  her  meretricious  arts  is  believed 
to  have  brought  about  the  destruction  of  the  Tang  dynasty.  In 
some  way  the  Prime  Minister  and  the  Foreign  ^Minister  heard 
a rumour  that  something  insulting  had  been  said.  They  called 
up  the  nephew  of  Lady  Om,  and  from  him  learned  the  damning 
facts.  They  also  knew  well  enough  that  no  insult  had  been 
intended,  but  here  was  a “ case  ” to  be  worked  to  its  fullest 
capacity.  The  most  sanguine  could  not  hope  that  the  hated 
favourite  would  give  them  a better  hold  upon  him  than  this : 
for  the  position  of  Lady  Om  was  a very  delicate  one,  and  there 
had  been  a dispute  on  for  years  between  the  Emperor's  coun- 
sellors as  to  the  advisability  of  raising  her  to  the  position  of 
Eriipress.  A word  against  her  was  a most  serious  matter. 

E^'erything  was  now  ready  for  the  grand  coup,  and  on  the 
27th  of  November  fourteen  of  the  highest  officials  memorial- 
ised the  throne  declaring  that  Yi  Yong-ik  was  a traitor  and 
must  be  condemned  and  executed  at  once.  His  iMajesty  sug- 
gested a little  delay,  but  on  the  evening  of  that  day  the  same 


RUSSIAN  INTRIGUE 


i8i 


men  presented  a second  memorial  couched  in  still  stronger 
language,  and  they  followed  it  up  the  next  morning  with  a 
third.  To  their  urgent  advice  was  added  that  of  Lady  Om 
herself  and  of  many  other  of  the  officials.  A crowd  of  officials 
gathered  at  the  palace  gate,  and  on  their  knees  awaited  the 
decision  of  the  Emperor.  There  was  not  a single  soul  of  all 
that  crowd  but  knew  that  the  charge  was  a mere  excuse,  and 
yet  it  was  nominally  valid.  It  was  the  will  of  that  powerful 
company  against  the  will  of  the  Emperor.  The  tension  was  too 
great,  and  his  Majesty  at  last  reluctantly  consented,  or  at  least 
expressed  consent ; but  he  first  ordered  the  accused  to  be  stripped 
of  all  his  honours  and  to  render  all  his  accounts.  This  was 
nominally  as  reasonable  as  was  the  charge  against  the  man.  It 
was  a case  of  “ diamond  cut  diamond,”  in  which  the  astuteness 
of  the  Emperor  won.  The  accusers  could  not  object  to  having 
the  accused  disgorge  before  being  executed,  but  it  was  at  this 
very  point  that  they  were  foiled.  Yi  Yong-ik’s  accounts  were 
purposely  in  such  shape  that  it  would  have  taken  a month  to 
examine  them,  for  he  alone  held  the  key.  Nothing  can  exceed 
the  desperate  coolness  of  the  man  under  the  awful  ordeal.  At 
one  point,  just  after  the  acquiescence  of  the  Emperor,  the  written 
sentence  of  death  is  said  to  have  gone  forth,  but  was  recalled 
just  as  it  was  to  have  gone  out  of  the  palace  gates,  after  which 
there  would  have^been  no  recall.  No  man  ever  escaped  by  a 
narrower  margin.  When  Yi  Yong-ik  presented  his  accounts  the 
Emperor  announced  that  it  would  take  some  days  to  straighten 
matters  out  since  the  accused  was  the  only  man  to  unravel  the 
skein.  Here  was  probably  the  crucial  point  in  the  intrigue. 
If  the  white  heat  of  the  day  before  had  been  maintained  and 
the  officials  had  demanded  instant  punishment,  accounts  or  no 
accounts,  the  thing  would  have  been  done,  but  as  it  happened 
the  consciousness  of  having  won  relaxed  the  tension  to  such  a 
degree  that  the  accused  gained  time.  This  time  was  utilised  by 
calling  in  a Russian  guard  and  spiriting  the  accused  away  to 
the  Russian  legation.  This  accomplished,  his  Majesty  suavely 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


182 

announced  that  the  case  would  be  considered,  but  that  mean- 
while the  officials  must  disperse.  There  were  further  memorials, 
resignations  cn  masse,  passionate  recriminations,  until  at  last 
two  or  three  officials  who  had  held  their  peace  saw  that  the 
game  was  up,  and,  in  order  to  curry  favour  themselves,  offered 
a counter  memorial  charging  Yi  Yong-ik’s  accusers  with  indi- 
rection. This  was  listened  to,  and  the  Prime  ^linister  was 
deprived  of  his  official  rank.  This  made  possible  a compromise 
whereby  both  Yi  Yong-ik  and  the  Prime  ^Minister  were  restored 
to  all  their  former  honours,  and  all  went  “ merry  as  a marriage 
bell.”  But  it  was  thought  best  to  let  Yi  Yong-ik  travel  for  his 
own  and  his  country’s  good,  so  he  was  made  Commissioner  to 
buy  Annam  rice,  which  was  itself  a pretty  piece  of  diplomacy, 
since  it  recalled  prominently  to  the  people  the  one  phase  of 
the  injured  man’s  career  which  they  could  unhesitatingly  applaud. 
He  was  taken  off  in  a Russian  cruiser  to  Port  Arthur  — to  buy 
Annam  rice ! 

When  he  returned  to  Seoul  a few  weeks  later,  the  Japanese 
lodged  a strong  protest  against  his  return  to  political  power, 
but  the  Russian  authorities  made  a counter-proposition  urging 
that  he  was  the  only  man  capable  of  handling  the  finances  of 
the  country.  Under  existing  circumstances  the  ^•ery  protest 
of  the  Japanese  was  an  argument  in  his  favour,  and  he  came 
back  into  power  on  the  flood  tide,  backed,  as  he  had  never  been 
before,  by  the  full  favour  of  the  Russian  party.  They  naturally 
expected  substantial  payment  for  ha^■ing  saved  him,  and  so  far 
as  he  was  able  he  liquidated  the  debt. 

IMeanwhile  another  man,  Yi  Keun-tak,  had  risen  to  power 
through  servile  adherence  to  Russian  interests.  The  somewhat 
enigmatical  character  of  Yi  Yong-ik  made  him  to  a certain 
extent  an  unknown  quantity.  Not  even  the  Japanese  considered 
him  wholly  given  over  to  Russia;  but  this  new  man  was  defi- 
nitely committed  to  Russian  interests,  and  with  his  rise  to  impor- 
tant position  it  became  evident  for  the  first  time  that  the  Korean 
government  had  decided  to  rely  upon  Russia  and  to  reject  the 


RUSSIAN  INTRIGUE 


183 


aid  or  the  advice  of  Japan.  The  end  of  the  year  1902  may  be 
said  to  have  been  the  approximate  time  when  Japan  first  realised 
that  all  hope  of  a peaceful  solution  of  the  Korean  problem  was 
gone.  One  naturally  asks  why  Korea  took  this  step,  and,  while 
we  are  still  too  near  the  event  to  secure  an  entirely  dispassionate 
estimate  or  opinion,  there  seems  to  be  little  doubt  that  it  was 
because  Russia  made  no  pretensions  and  expressed  no  desire 
to  reform  the  administration  of  the  government.  She  was  per- 
fectly content  to  let  things  go  along  in  the  old  way  in  the 
peninsula,  knowing  that  this  would  constantly  and  increasingly 
jeopardise  the  interests  of  Japan,  while  she  herself  had  practi- 
cally no  commercial  interests  to  suffer. 

The  immemorial  policy  of  Russia  in  Asia  sufficiently  accounts 
for  her  work  in  Korea.  Her  policy  of  gradual  absorption  of 
native  tribes  has  never  held  within  its  purview  the  civilising  or 
the  strengthening  of  those  tribes,  until  they  have  been  gathered 
under  her  aegis.  On  the  other  hand,  until  that  has  been  accom- 
plished she  has  either  waited  patiently  for  the  disintegration  of 
the  native  tribes  or  has  actually  aided  in  such  disintegration. 
History  shows  no  case  in  which  Russia  has  strengthened  the 
hands  of  another  people  for  the  sake  of  profiting  by  the  larger 
market  that  would  be  opened  up;  for  until  very  recently  the 
commercial  side  of  the  question  has  scarcely  been  considered, 
and  even  now  the  commercial  interests  of  Russia  depend  upon 
an  exclusive  market.  So  that  in  any  case  a dominant  political 
influence  is  the  very  first  step  in  every  move  of  Russia  in  the 
East.  Why  then  should  Russia  have  advised  administrative  or 
monetary  or  any  other  reform,  since  such  action  would  inevi- 
tably form  a bar  to  the  success  of  her  own  ultimate  plans? 

The  historian  of  the  future,  taking  his  stand  above  and  out 
of  the  smoke  of  battle,  will  take  a dispassionate  view  of  the 
whole  situation.  He  will  mark  the  antecedents  of  these  two 
rival  powers ; he  will  compare  their  domestic  and  foreign  poli- 
cies, he  will  weigh  the  motives  that  impelled  them,  he  will  mark 
the  instruments  wielded  by  each  and  the  men  whom  they  employed 


184 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


as  their  intermediaries  and  agents.  Then,  and  not  till  then,  will 
it  be  possible  to  tell  whether  the  present  recorders  of  events  are 
right  in  asserting  that  while  the  policies  of  both  powers  are 
essentially  selfish  the  success  of  Russia’s  policy  involves  the  dis- 
integration and  national  ruin  of  the  peoples  she  comes  in  contact 
with,  while  the  success  of  Japan’s  policy,  if  she  only  could  see  it, 
demands  the  rehabilitation  of  the  Far  East. 

Much  depended  upon  the  attitude  which  Korea  should  finally 
assume  toward  these  two  mutually  antagonistic  policies.  If  she 
had  sided  with  Japan  and  had  shown  a fixed  determination  to 
resist  the  encroachments  of  Russia  by  adopting  a policy  of 
internal  renovation  which  would  enlist  the  interest  and  command 
the  admiration  of  the  world,  the  war  might  have  been  indefinitely 
postponed.  Whether  it  could  have  been  finally  avoided  would 
depend  largely  upon  the  changes  that  are  taking  place  in  Russia 
herself,  where  in  spite  of  all  repressive  agencies  education  and 
enlightenment  are  filtering  in  and  causing  a gradual  change. 
Time  alone  will  tell  whether  the  outcome  of  the  war  was  a bless- 
ing or  not,  for  it  is  not  yet  certain  whether  Japan  is  bent  upon 
territorial  e.xpansion  or  not.  Her  action  in  Korea  is  far  from 
reassuring. 

The  year  1903  beheld  the  rapid  culmination  of  the  difficulties 
between  Japan  and  Russia.  It  had  already  become  almost  sure 
that  war  alone  would  cut  the  Gordian  knot,  and  if  any  more  proof 
was  necessary  this  year  supplied  it. 


CHAPTER  XII 


THE  JAPAN-RUSSIA  WAR 

Early  in  the  year  it  transpired  that  the  Russians  had 
obtained  from  the  Korean  Emperor  a concession  to  cut 
timber  along  the  Yalu  River.  The  thing  was  done 
secretly  and  irregularly,  and  the  government  never 
received  a tithe  of  the  value  of  the  concession.  By  this  act  the 
government  dispossessed  itself  of  one  of  its  finest  sources  of 
wealth,  and  sacrificed  future  millions  for  a few  paltry  thousand 
in  hand,  and  a promise  to  pay  a share  of  the  profits,  though  no 
provision  was  made  for  giving  the  government  an  opportunity 
of  watching  the  work  in  its  own  interests.  Soon  after  the 
Russians  had  opened  up  the  concession  they  began  to  make  ad- 
vances for  the  obtaining  of  harbour  facilities  in  connection  with 
it.  The  port  of  Yongampo  was  decided  upon,  and  the  Korean 
government  was  asked  to  allow  the  Russians  the  use  of  it  for 
this  purpose.  This  created  a very  profound  impression  upon 
Japan  and  upon  the  world  at  large.  It  was  felt  that  this  was 
giving  Russia  a foothold  upon  the  soil  of  Korea,  and  Russia’s 
history  shows  that,  once  gained,  the  point  would  never  be  given 
up.  The  activity  of  Russia  in  the  north  gave  rise  to  the  notion 
that  Japanese  influence  was  predominant  in  the  southern  half 
of  the  peninsula  and  Russia  in  the  northern  half.  This  gave  birth 
to  all  sorts  of  rumours  among  the  Korean  people,  and  the  ancient 
books  were  ransacked  for  prophecies  that  would  fit  the  situation. 
As  a whole,  the  attitude  of  the  Korean  has  always  been  a rational 
and  consistent  one  as  between  Russia  and  Japan.  He  has  a 

C greater  personal  antipathy  for  the  latter  because  they  have  come 
into  closer  contact ; but  there  is  a mysterious  dread  in  his  heart 
Avhich  warns  him  of  the  Russian.  He  will  never  say  which  he 


i86 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


would  rather  have  in  power  here,  but  always  says,  “ I pray  to 
be  delivered  from  them  both.” 

Japan  began  to  urge  upon  the  government  the  necessity  of 
opening  Yongampo  to  foreign  trade,  but  Russia,  of  course, 
opposed  this  with  all  her  powers  of  persuasion.  Great  Britain 
and  the  United  States  joined  in  urging  the  opening  of  the  port. 
The  United  States  had  already  arranged  for  the  opening  of  the 
port  of  Antung,  just  opposite  Yongampo,  and  for  the  sake  of 
trade  it  was  highly  desirable  that  a port  on  the  Korean  side  of 
the  Yalu  should  be  opened.  It  had  no  special  reference  to  the 
Russian  occupation  of  the  port,  but  as  pressure  was  being  brought 
to  bear  upon  the  government  to  throw  open  the  port,  it  was  con- 
sidered an  opportune  time  to  join  forces  in  pushing  for  this 
desired  end.  And  it  was  more  for  the  interest  of  Korea  to  do 
this  than  for  any  of  the  powers  that  were  urging  it.  Such  an 
act  would  have  been  a check  to  Russian  aggression,  and  would 
have  rendered  nugatory  any  ulterior  plan  she  might  have  as 
regards  Korea.  But  the  Russian  power  in  Seoul  was  too  great. 
It  had  not  upheld  the  cause  of  Yi  Yong-ik  in  vain,  and  the  gov- 
ernment, while  using  very  specious  language,  withstood  every 
attempt  to  secure  the  opening  of  the  port.  At  last  the  American 
government  modified  its  request,  and  asked  that  Wiju  be  opened; 
but  to  this  Russia  objected  almost  as  strongly  as  to  the  other. 
There  can  be  little  doubt  that  this  uncompromising  attitude  of 
Russia  on  the  Korean  border  confirmed  Japan  in  the  position  she 
had  already  assumed.  It  was  quite  evident  that  the  force  of 
arms  was  the  only  thing  that  would  make  Russia  retire  from 
Korean  soil. 

All  through  the  summer  complaints  came  in  from  the  north 
that  the  Russians  were  working  their  own  will  along  the  northern 
border,  and  taking  every  advantage  of  the  loose  language  in 
which  the  agreement  had  been  worded.  Again  and  again  infor- 
mation came  up  to  Seoul  that  the  Russian  agents  were  going 
outside  the  limits  specified  in  the  bond,  but  there  was  no  one  to 
check  it.  It  was  impossible  to  police  the  territory  encroached 


THE  JAPAN-RUSSIA  WAR 


187 

upon,  and  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  government  chafed 
under  the  imposition.  At  least  the  telegraph  lines  which  the 
Russians  erected,  entirely  without  warrant,  were  repeatedly  torn 
down  by  emissaries  of  the  government,  and  apparently  without 
check  from  the  central  authorities. 

In  the  summer,  when  the  text  of  the  proposed  agreement 
Retween  Russia  and  Korea  anent  Yongampo  became  public,  the 
Japanese  government  made  a strong  protest.  She  probably  knew 
that  this  was  a mere  form,  but  she  owed  it  to  herself  to  file  a 
protest  against  such  suicidal  action  on  the  part  of  Korea.  The 
insolence  of  the  Russians  swelled  to  the  point  of  renaming  Yong- 
ampo  Port  Nicholas. 

In  October  the  Japanese  merchants  in  Seoul  and  other  com- 
mercial centres  began  calling  in  all  outstanding  moneys,  with  the 
evident  expectation  of  war.  All  brokers  and  loan  associations 
closed  their  accounts  and  refused  to  make  further  loans.  It  is 
more  than  probable  that  they  had  received  the  hint  that  it  might 
be  well  to  suspend  operations  for  the  time  being.  From  this  time 
until  war  was  declared,  the  people  of  Korea  waited  in  utmost 
suspense.  They  knew  war  only  as  a universal  desolation.  They 
had  no  notion  of  any  of  the  comparative  amenities  of  modern 
warfare  or  the  immunities  of  non-combatants.  War  meant  to 
them  the  breaking  up  of  the  very  foundations  of  society,  and 
many  a time  the  anxious  inquiry  was  put  as  to  whether  the  war 
would  probably  be  fought  on  Korean  soil  or  in  Manchuria.  Once 
more  Korea  found  herself  the  “ shrimp  between  two  whales,” 
and  doubly  afflicted  in  that  whichever  one  should  win  she  would 
in  all  probability  form  part  of  the  booty  of  the  victor. 

The  year  1904,  which  will  be  recorded  in  history  as  one  of 
the  most  momentous  in  all  the  annals  of  the  Far  East,  opened 
upon  a very  unsatisfactory  state  of  things  in  Korea.  It  had 
become  as  certain  as  any  future  event  can  be  that  Japan  and 
Russia  would  soon  be  at  swords’  points.  The  negotiations 
between  these  two  powers  were  being  carried  on  in  St.  Peters- 
burg, and,  as  published  later,  were  of  the  most  unsatisfactory 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


1 88 

nature.  Japan  was  completing  her  arrangements  for  striking  the 
blow  which  fell  on  the  9th  of  February.  Of  course  these  plans 
were  not  made  public,  but  there  was  conflict  in  the  very  air,  and 
all  men  were  bracing  themselves  for  the  shock  that  they  felt 
must  soon  come.  The  action  of  Japanese  money-lenders  in  sus- 
pending operations  was  followed  in  January  by  the  Korean  pawn- 
brokers, and  at  a season  when  such  action  inflicted  the  greatest 
possible  harm  upon  the  poor  people  of  the  capital,  who  find  it 
impossible  to  live  without  temporarily  hypothecating  a portion 
of  their  personal  effects.  This,  together  with  the  excessive  cold, 
aroused  a spirit  of  unrest  which  came  near  assuming  dangerous 
proportions.  Some  of  the  native  papers  were  so  unwise  as  to 
fan  the  embers  by  dilating  upon  the  hard  conditions  under  which 
the  Koreans  laboured.  Their  sharpest  comments  were  directed 
at  the  government,  but  their  tendency  was  to  incite  the  populace 
against  foreigners. 

All  through  the  month  the  various  foreign  legations  were 
bringing  in  guards  to  protect  their  legations  and  their  respective 
nationals,  and  this  very  natural  and  entirely  justifiable  action  was 
resented  by  the  government.  It  protested  time  and  again  against 
the  presence  of  foreign  troops,  as  if  their  coming  were  in  some 
way  an  insult  to  Korea.  The  officials  in  charge  thereby  showed 
their  utter  incompetence  to  diagnose  the  situation  correctly.  It 
was  well  known  that  the  disaffection  among  the  Korean  troops 
in  Seoul  was  great,  and  that  the  dangerous  element  known  as 
the  Peddlers’  Guild  was  capable  of  any  excesses.  The  unfriendly 
attitude  of  Yi  Yong-ik  and  Yi  Keun-tak  towards  western  for- 
eigners, excepting  Russians  and  French,  together  with  their  more 
or  less  close  connection  with  the  Peddlers,  was  sufficient  reason 
for  the  precautionary  measures  that  were  adopted.  But  the 
native  papers  made  matters  worse  by  ridiculing  both  the  gov- 
ernment and  the  army.  At  one  time  there  was  considerable 
solicitude  on  the  part  of  foreigners,  not  lest  the  Korean  populace 
itself  would  break  into  open  revolt,  but  lest  some  violent  faction 
would  be  encouraged  by  the  authorities  to  make  trouble,  so  little 


THE  JAPAN-RUSSIA  WAR 


189 


confidence  had  they  in  the  good  sense  of  the  court  favourite.  It 
was  fairly  evident  that  in  case  of  trouble  the  Japanese  would  very 
soon  hold  the  capital,  and  it  was  feared  that  the  violently  pro- 
Russian  officials,  despairing  of  protection  at  the  hands  of  Russia, 
would  cause  a general  insurrection,  hoping  in  the  tumult  to  make 
good  their  escape.  It  was  felt  that  great  precautions  should  be 
taken  by  foreigners  not  to  give  any  excuse  for  a popular  uprising. 
The  electric  cars  diminished  their  speed  so  as  to  obviate  the  pos- 
sibility of  any  accident,  for  even  the  smallest  casualty  might  form 
the  match  which  would  set  the  people  on  fire. 

About  the  20th  of  January  the  report  circulated  that  Russia 
had  proposed  that  northern  Korea  be  made  a neutral  zone  and 
that  Japan  exercise  predominant  influence  in  the  south.  This  was 
only  an  echo  of  the  negotiations  which  were  nearing  the  break- 
ing point  in  St.  Petersburg,  and  it  confirmed  those  who  knew 
Japan  in  their  opinion  that  war  alone  could  settle  the  matter.  On 
the  following  day  the  Korean  government  issued  its  proclama- 
tion of  neutrality  as  between  Russia  and  Japan.  This  curious 
action,  taken  before  any  declaration  of  war  or  any  act  of  hos- 
tility, was  a pretty  demonstration  of  Russian  tactics.  It  was 
evident  that  in  case  of  war  Japan  would  be  the  first  in  the  field, 
and  Korea  would  naturally  be  the  road  by  which  she  would  attack 
Russia.  Therefore,  while  the  two  were  technically  at  peace  with 
each  other,  Korea  was  evidently  induced  by  Russia  to  put  forth 
a premature  declaration  of  neutrality  in  order  to  anticipate  any 
use  of  Korean  territory  by  Japanese  troops.  At  the  time  this 
was  done  the  Foreign  Office  was  shorn  of  all  real  power,  and 
was  only  the  mouthpiece  through  which  these  friends  of  Russia 
spoke  in  order  to  make  their  pronouncements  official.  It  was 
already  known  that  two  of  the  most  powerful  Koreans  at  court 
had  strongly  urged  that  Russia  be  asked  to  send  troops  to  guard 
the  imperial  palace  in  Seoul,  and  the  Japanese  were  keenly  on 
the  lookout  for  evidences  of  bad  faith  in  the  matter  of  this 
declared  neutrality.  When,  therefore,  they  picked  up  a boat  on 
the  Yellow  Sea  a few  days  later. and  found  on  it  a Korean  bearing 


190 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


a letter  to  Port  Arthur  asking  for  troops,  and  that,  while  unofficial 
in  form,  it  came  from  the  very  officials  who  had  promulgated 
the  declaration  of  neutrality,  it  became  abundantly  clear  that  the 
spirit  of  neutrality  was  non-existent.  It  must  be  left  to  the 
future  historian  to  declare  whether  the  Japanese  were  justified 
in  impairing  a declared  neutrality  that  existed  only  in  name,  and 
under  cover  of  which  the  Korean  officials  were  proved  to  be 
acting  in  a manner  distinctly  hostile  to  the  interests  of  Japan. 

All  through  January  the  Japanese  were  busy  making  military 
stations  every  fifteen  miles  between  Fusan  and  Seoul.  All  along 
the  line  small  buildings  were  erected,  sufficiently  large  to  house 
twenty  or  thirty  men.  On  the  22nd  of  January  General  Ijichi 
arrived  in  Seoul  as  Alilitary  Attache  of  the  Japanese  Legation. 
The  appointment  of  a man  of  such  rank  as  this  was  most  signifi- 
cant and  should  have  aroused  the  Russians  to  a realising  sense  of 
their  danger;  but  it  did  not  do  so.  Four  days  later  this  general 
made  a final  appeal  to  the  Korean  government,  asking  for  some 
•definite  statement  as  to  its  attitude  toward  Russia  and  Japan. 
The  foreign  office  answered  that  the  government  was  entirely 
neutral.  Two  days  later  the  Japanese  landed  a large  amount 
of  barley  at  the  port  of  Kunsan,  a few  hours’  run  south  of 
Chemulpo,  and  a light  railway  of  the  Decauville  type  was  also 
landed  at  the  same  place.  On  the  29th  all  Korean  students  were 
recalled  from  Japan. 

On  the  I St  of  February  the  Russians  appeared  to  be  the  only 
•ones  who  did  not  realise  that  trouble  was  brewing,  otherwise 
why  should  they  have  stored  fifteen  hundred  tons  of  coal  and 
a quantity  of  barley  in  their  godowns  on  Roze  Island  in  Che- 
mulpo harbour  on  the  2nd  of  that  month?  On  the  yth  the 
government  received  a despatch  from  Whju  saying  that  sev- 
eral thousand  Russian  troops  were  approaching  the  border,  and 
that  the  Japanese  merchants  and  others  were  preparing  to  retire 
from  that  place.  The  same  day  the  foreign  office  sent  to  all  the 
open  ports  ordering  that  news  should  be  immediately  telegraphed 
■of  any  important  movements. 


THE  JAPANESE  LEGATION 


THE  JAPAN-RUSSIA  WAR 


191 

On  the  8th  of  February  the  Japanese  posted  notices  in  Seoul 
.and  vicinity  that  what  Japan  was  about  to  do  was  dictated  by 
motives  of  right  and  justice,  and  that  the  property  and  per- 
sonal rights  of  Koreans  would  be  respected.  Koreans  were 
urged  to  report  any  cases  of  ill-treatment  to  the  Japanese  author- 
ities and  immediate  justice  was  promised.  From  this  day  the 
port  of  Chemulpo  was  practically  blockaded  by  the  Japanese,  and 
■only  by  their  consent  could  vessels  enter  or  clear. 

Having  arrived  at  the  point  of  actual  rupture  between  Japan 
and  Russia,  it  is  necessary,  before  entering  into  any  details  of 
the  struggle,  to  indicate  the  precise  bearing  of  it  upon  Korea. 
Japan  has  always  looked  upon  Korea  as  a land  whose  political 
status  and  affinities  are  of  vital  interest  to  herself,  just  as  England 
once  looked  upon  the  Cinque  ports,  namely,  as  a possible  base 
•of  hostile  action,  and  therefore  to  be  carefully  watched.  One 
■of  two  things  have  therefore  been  deemed  essential,  either  that 
Korea  should  be  thoroughly  independent  or  that  she  should  be 
under  a Japanese  protectorate.  These  two  ideas  have  animated 
■different  parties  in  Japan  and  have  led  to  occasional  troubles. 
There  is  one  radical  faction  which  has  consistently  and  persist- 
ently demanded  that  Japan’s  suzerainty  over  Korea  should  be 
■established  and  maintained,  and  it  was  the  unwillingness  of  the 
Japanese  authorities  to  adopt  strong  measures  in  the  peninsula 
which  led  to  the  Satsuma  Rebellion.  Another  large  fraction  of 
the  Japanese,  of  more  moderate  and  rational  view,  are  committed 
to  the  policy  of  simply  holding  to  the  independence  of  Korea, 
arguing  very  rightly  that  if  such  independence  is  maintained 
.and  the  resources  of  the  country  are  gradually  developed,  Japan 
will  reap  all  the  material  advantages  of  the  situation  without 
shouldering  the  burden  of  the  Korean  administration  or  meeting 
the  violent  opposition  of  the  Koreans,  which  seizure  would 
inevitably  entail.  It  is  this  latter  policy  which  has  prevailed,  and 
according  to  which  Japan  has  attempted  to  work  during  the  past 
three  decades.  It  is  this  which  actuated  her  during  the  period  of 
China’s  active  claim  to  suzerainty  and  at  last  caused  the  War  of 


192 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


1894,  which  supposedly  settled  the  question  of  Korea’s  independ- 
ence. But  following  upon  this  came  the  encroachments  of  Russia 
in  Manchuria  and  the  adoption  of  a vigorous  policy  in  Korea. 
Japan’s  efforts  to  preserve  the  intrinsic  autonomy  of  Korea  were 
rendered  abortive  partly  through  mistakes  which  her  own  repre- 
sentatives and  agents  made,  but  still  more  through  the  supineness 
and  venality  of  Korean  officials.  The  subjects  of  the  Czar  at 
the  capital  of  Korea  made  use  of  the  most  corrupt  officials  at 
court,  and  through  them  opposed  Japanese  interests  at  every 
point.  Furthermore,  they  made  demands  for  exclusive  rights 
in  different  Korean  ports,  and  succeeded  in  encroaching  upon 
Korean  sovereignty  in  Yongampo.  The  evident  policy  of  Russia 
was  to  supplant  Japan  in  the  peninsula,  and  no  reasonable  person 
ca^fail  to  see  that  it  was  their  ultimate  plan  to  add  Korea  to 
the  niap---QTjRussia.  The  cause  of  the  war  was,  therefore,  the 
necessity  laid  upon  Japan  of  safeguarding  her  vital  interests, 
nay,  her  very  existence,  by  checking  the  encroachments  of  Russia 
upon  Korean  territory. 

But  before  submitting  the  matter  to  the  arbitrament  of  the 
sword,  Japan  exerted  ei'ery  effort  to  make  Russia  define  her 
intentions  in  the  Far  East.  With  a patience  that  elicited  the 
admiration  of  the  world  she  kept  plying  Russia  with  pertinent 
questions,  until  at  last  it  was  revealed  that  Russia  intended  to 
deal  with  Manchuria  as  she  wished,  and  would  concede  Japanese 
interests  in  southern  Korea  only,  and  not  even  this  unless  Japan 
would  engage  not  to  act  in  that  sphere  as  Russia  was  acting  in 
IManchuria. 

All  this  time  the  Japanese  people  were ‘clamouring  for  war. 
They  wanted  to  get  at  the  throat  of  their  manifest  foe ; but  their 
government  in  a masterly  way  held  them  in  check  and  kept  its 
own  secrets  so  inviolable  as  to  astonish  the  most  astute  diploma- 
tists of  the  day.  At  last,  when  the  hour  struck,  Japan  declared  for 
war  Avithout  having  weakened  the  enthusiasm  of  her  people,  and 
without  giving  occasion  to  adverse  critics  to  say  that  she  had 
yielded  to  popular  importunity.  Y’hen  she  communicated  to 


THE  JAPAN-RUSSIA  WAR 


193 


Russia  her  irreducible  minimum,  one  would  think  that  even  the 
blind  could  see  that  war  was  certain  to  follow  soon.  But  even 
then,  if  there  is  any  truth  in  direct  evidence,  the  great  majority 
of  the  Russians  laughed  the  matter  aside  as  impossible.  The 
moderation  and  self-control  of  Japan  was  counted  to  her  for 
hesitation,  so  that  when  the  moment  for  action  came,  and  Japan 
sprang  upon  her  like  a tigress  robbed  of  her  whelps,  Russia  cried 
aloud  that  she  had  been  wronged.  Already  on  the  morning 
of  the  7th  Baron  Rosen’s  credentials  had  been  handed  back 
to  him  in  Tokyo.  The  evening  before  this  the  Japanese  Minister 
had  left  St.  Petersburg.  This  in  itself  was  a declaration  of  war, 
but  forty  hours  elapsed  before  Japan  struck  the  first  blow.  Dur- 
ing those  hours  Russia  had  ample  time  in  which  to  withdraw  her 
boats  from  Chemulpo,  even  though  the  Japanese  refused  to  trans- 
mit telegrams  to  Seoul.  A fast  boat  from  Port  Arthur  could 
easily  have  brought  the  message. 

It  was  on  the  6th  and  7th  that  reports  circulated  in  Seoul 
that  the  Japanese  were  landing  large  bodies  of  troops  at  Kunsan 
or  Asan  or  both.  These  rumours  turned  out  to  be  false,  but 
beneath  them  was  the  fact  that  a fleet  was  approaching  Chemulpo. 
The  question  has  been  insistently  asked  why  the  Russian  Minister 
did  not  inform  the  commanders  of  these  Russian  vessels,  and  see 
to  it  that  they  were  clear  of  the  harbour  before  these  rumours 
were  realised.  The  answer  as  given  is  that  the  Russian  Minister 
had  no  control  over  these  boats.  They  had  their  orders  to  remain 
in  Chemulpo  and  they  must  stay.  One  w'ould  think  that  there 
would  be  at  least  enough  rapport  between  the  civil  and  military 
(or  naval)  authorities  to  use  the  one  in  forwarding  the  interests 
of  the  other. 

Even  yet  the  Russians  did  not  appreciate  the  seriousness  of 
the  situation ; but  they  decided  that  it  was  time  to  send  notice 
to  their  authorities  in  Port  Arthur  of  what  was  rumoured  at 
Chemulpo.  So  the  small  gunboat  Koryeta  made  ready  to  move 
out.  Her  captain,  Belaieff,  proposed  to  the  Russian  Consul  that 
the  Russian  steamship  Sungari,  which  was  in  port,  should  go 


194 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


with  the  Koryetz  and  thus  enjoy  her  protection,  but  the  agent 
of  the  company  which  owned  the  steamship  strongly  objected 
to  her  leaving  the  neutral  port  at  sv;ch  a time.  He  evidently 
realised  in  part  the  acuteness  of  the  situation.  So  the  Sungari 
remained  at  her  anchorage  and  the  Koryctz  steamed  out  of  port 
at  two  o’clock  in  the  afternoon.  Now,  the  harbour  of  Chemulpo 
is  a somewhat  peculiar  one,  for  in  one  sense  it  is  landlocked  and 
in  another  it  is  not.  It  is  formed  by  islands  between  which  there 
are  many  openings  to  the  open  sea,  but  most  of  these  are  so 
shallow  that  ships  of  medium  draught  do  not  dare  attempt  them. 
There  is  but  one  recognised  entrance,  and  that  is  from  the  south- 
west, or  between  that  and  the  sortth.  This  entrance  is  several 
miles  wide,  and  in  the  centre  of  it  lies  Round  Island.  When  the 
Koryctz  arrived  at  the  exit  of  the  harbour,  she  suddenly  found 
herself  surrounded  by  torpedo-boats.  The  only  witnesses  of 
what  occurred  at  this  point  are  the  Japanese  and  the  Russians, 
and  we  can  only  give  their  accounts.  The  Russians  say  that  the 
Japanese  launched  four  torpedoes  at  the  Koryetz,  and  when 
within  ten  feet  of  her  side  they  sank.  Another  statement  is  that 
a shot  was  fired  on  board  the  Koryctz,  but  it  was  a mere  acci- 
dent. The  Japanese  claim  that  the  Koryctz  fired  first.  If  we 
try  to  weigh  the  probabilities  it  seems  impossible  that  the  tor- 
pedoes of  the  Japanese  should  have  missed  the  Koryctz  if  the 
torpedo-boats  were  as  near  as  the  Russians  claim.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  admission  on  the  part  of  a single  Russian  that  the  first 
gun  was  fired  on  the  Koryctz,  even  though  by  accident,  is  rather 
damaging,  for  it  is  more  than  singular  that  an  accident  should 
ha\'e  happened  at  that  precise  time.  It  is  a tax  on  the  credulity 
of  the  public  to  give  this  lame  excuse. 

In  any  case  it  makes  little  difference  who  began  the  firing. 
The  Japanese  had  already  seized  the  Russian  steamer  Mukden 
in  the  harbour  of  Fusan,  and  the  war  had  begun.  The  Japanese 
doubtless  held  with  Polonius,  that  if  it  is  necessary  to  fight,  the 
man  who  strikes  first  and  hardest  will  have  the  advantage.  The 
Koryctz  turned  back  to  her  anchorage  and  the  Russians  became 


THE  JAPAN-RUSSIA  WAR 


195. 


aware  of  the  extreme  precariousness  of  their  position.  Whatever 
attitude  one  may  take  toward  the  general  situation,  it  is  impos- 
sible not  to  extend  a large  degree  of  sympathy  to  these  Russians 
personally.  Through  no  fault  of  their  own  they  were  trapped 
in  the  harbour,  and  found  too  late  that  they  must  engage  in 
a hopeless  fight  in  order  to  uphold  the  honour  of  the  Russian 
flag.  But  even  yet  it  was  not  sure  that  the  neutrality  of  the 
port  would  be  ignored  by  the  Japanese.  Lying  at  anchor  among 
neutral  vessels  in  a neutral  harbour,  there  was  more  or  less 
reason  to  believe  that  they  were  safe  for  the  time  being. 

About  four  o’clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the  8th  of  February, 
which  fell  on  Monday,  three  Japanese  transports  entered  Che- 
mulpo harbour  from  the  south,  convoyed  by  cruisers  and  torpedo- 
boats.  They  seemingly  took  no  notice  of  the  two  Russian  boats- 
lying  at  anchor,  and  were  evidently  sure  that  the  Russians  would 
not  fire  upon  the  transports.  It  would  be  interesting  to  know 
whether  the  Japanese  were  relying  upon  the  declared  neutrality 
of  the  port  in  thus  venturing,  or  whether  they  felt  sure  that 
their  own  superior  strength  would  keep  the  Russians  still,  or 
whether,  again,  they  were  certain  that  the  Russians  had  orders 
not  to  fire  the  first  gun.  But  it  is  bootless  to  ask  questions  that 
can  never  be  answered.  Here  is  where  the  assailant  has  the 
advantage.  He  can  choose  the  time  and  method  of  his  attack. 
We  may  surmise  that,  had  the  Russians  divined  the  intentions- 
of  the  Japanese  and  had  foreseen  the  outcome,  they  would 
have  acted  differently,  but  divination  of  Japanese  intentions  does- 
not  seem  to  be  Russia’s  strong  point. 

As  soon  as  the  Japanese  came  to  anchor,  preparations  were 
made  for  the  immediate  landing  of  the  troops,  and  the  cruisers 
and  torpedo-boats  that  had  convoyed  them  in  left  the  port  and 
joined  the  fleet  outside.  This  fleet  consisted  of  six  cruisers  and 
several  torpedo-boats.  The  Asarna  and  the  Chiyoda  were  the 
most  powerful  of  the  cruisers,  the  former  being  nearly  half  as 
large  again  as  the  Variak. 

Night  came  on,  and  throughout  its  long  hours  the  Japanese 


196 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


troops,  by  the  light  of  huge  fires  burning  on  the  jetty,  were 
landed  and  marched  up  into  the  town.  When  morning  came, 
everyone  was  in  a state  of  expectancy.  If  there  was  a Japanese 
fleet  outside,  they  doubtless  had  other  work  on  hand  than  simply 
watching  two  Russian  boats.  Nor  could  they  leave  them  behind, 
for  one  of  them  was  Russia’s  fastest  cruiser,  and  might  steam 
out  of  the  harbour  at  any  time  and  destroy  Japanese  transports. 
Knowing,  as  we  do  now,  that  an  immediate  attack  on  Port 
Arthur  had  been  decided  upon,  we  see  that  it  was  impossible 
to  leave  these  Russian  boats  in  the  rear.  Japan  had  never 
recognised  the  neutrality  of  Korea,  for  she  knew  that  the  dec- 
laration was  merely  a Russian  move  to  embarrass  her,  and 
she  never  hesitated  a moment  to  break  the  thin  shell  of 
pretence. 

About  ten  o’clock  a sealed  letter  was  handed  to  Captain 
Rudnieff  of  the  Variak.  It  was  from  the  Japanese  Admiral, 
and  had  been  sent  through  the  Russian  Consulate.  It  was 
delivered  on  board  the  Variak  by  the  hand  of  IMr.  N.  Krell,  a 
Russian  resident  of  the  port.  This  letter  informed  the  Russian 
commander  that  unless  both  Russian  boats  should  leave  the 
anchorage  and  steam  out  of  the  bay  before  twelve  o’clock  the 
Japanese  would  come  in  at  four  o’clock  and  attack  them  where 
they  lay.  Captain  Rudnieff  immediately  communicated  the 
startling  intelligence  to  Captain  Belaieff  of  the  Korycts  and  to 
the  commanders  of  the  British,  American,  French  and  Italian 
war-vessels.  We  are  informed  that  a conference  of  the  various 
commanders  took  place,  and  that  the  Russians  were  advised  to 
lie  where  they  were.  The  British  commander  was  deputed  to 
confer  with  the  Japanese.  This  was  done  by  signal,  and  it  is 
said  that  a protest  was  made  against  the  proposed  violation  of 
neutrality  of  the  port  and  that  the  neutral  boats  refused  to  shift 
their  anchorage.  But  all  complications  of  this  nature  were 
avoided  by  the  determination  of  the  Russians  to  accept  the 
challenge.  This  they  deemed  to  be  due  their  flag.  It  is  not 
improbable  that  they  now  foresaw  that  the  neutrality  of  the  port 


THE  JAPAN-RUSSIA  WAR 


197 


would  not  avail  them  against  the  enemy.  By  remaining  at 
anchor  they  could  only  succeed  in  involving  France,  Italy,  Great 
Britain  and  the  United  States,  and  there  would  be  sure  to  be 
those  who  would  charge  the  Russians  with  cowardice.  If  this 
was  to  begin  the  war,  it  must  at  least  prove  the  dauntless  cour- 
age of  the  servants  of  the  Czar.  So  the  commander  of  the 
Variak  ordered  the  decks  cleared  for  action.  It  has  been  stated 
that  he  would  have  preferred  to  have  the  Koryetz  stay  at  her 
anchorage,  for  by  a quick  dash  it  was  just  possible  that  the 
swift  Variak  alone  might  be  able  to  evade  the  Japanese  and 
run  the  gauntlet  successfully.  But  the  commander  of  the 
Koryetz  refused  to  listen  to  any  such  proposition.  If  the  only 
honour  to  be  gotten  out  of  the  affair  was  by  a desperate  attack, 
he  was  not  going  to  forego  his  share  of  it.  He  would  go  out 
and  sink  with  the  Variak.  So  the  Koryetz  also  cleared  for 
action.  It  was  done  in  such  haste  that  all  movables  that  were 
unnecessary  were  thrown  overboard,  a topmast  that  would  not 
come  down  in  the  usual  manner  was  hewn  down  with  an  axe, 
and  by  half-past  eleven  the  two  vessels  were  ready  to  go  out  to 
their  doom.  It  was  an  almost  hopeless  task  — an  entirely  hope- 
less one  unless  the  Japanese  should  change  their  minds  or  should 
make  some  grave  mistake,  and  neither  of  these  things  was  at 
all  probable.  The  Russians  were  going  to  certain  destruction. 
Some  call  it  rashness,  not  bravery,  but  they  say  not  well.  The 
boats  were  doomed  in  any  case,  and  it  was  the  duty  of  their 
officers  and  crews  to  go  forth  and  in  dying  inflict  what  injury 
they  could  upon  the  enemy.  To  go  into  battle  with  chances 
equal  is  the  act  of  a brave  man,  but  to  walk  into  the  jaws  of 
death  with  nothing  but  defeat  in  prospect,  is  the  act  of  a hero, 
and  the  Japanese  would  be  the  last  to  detract  from  the  noble 
record  that  the  Russians  made.  Time  has  not  yet  lent  its 
glamour  to  this  event,  we  are  too  near  it  to  see  it  in  proper 
proportions,  but  if  the  six  hundred  heroes  of  Balaclava,  veterans 
of  many  a fight,  gained  undying  honour  for  the  desperate  charge 
they  made,  how  shall  not  the  future  crown  these  men  who. 


198 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


having  never  been  in  action  before,  made  such  a gallant  dash 
at  the  foe?  And  herein  lies  the  intrinsic  damnableness  of  war,, 
that  causes  which  will  not  stand  the  test  of  abstract  justice  can 
marshal  to  their  support  the  noblest  qualities  of  which  men  are 
capable. 


CHAPTER  XIII 


THE  BATTLE  OF  CHEMULPO 

IT  was  a cloudless  but  hazy  day,  and  from  the  anchorage 
the  Japanese  fleet  was  all  but  invisible,  for  it  lay  at  least 
eight  miles  out  in  the  entrance  of  the  harbour  and  partly 
concealed  by  Round  Island,  which  splits  the  offing  into 
two  channels.  The  two  boats  made  straight  for  the  more  east- 
erly of  the  channels,  their  course  being  a very  little  west  of 
south.  When  they  had  proceeded  about  half  the  distance  from 
the  anchorage  to  the  enemy’s  fleet,  the  latter  threw  a shot  across 
the  bows  of  each  of  the  Russian  boats,  as  a command  to  stop 
and  surrender,  but  the  Russians  took  no  notice  of  it.  The  only 
chance  the  Russians  had  to  inflict  any  damage  was  to  reduce 
the  firing  range  as  much  as  possible,  for  the  Variak’s  guns  were 
only  six  inches  and  four-tenths  in  calibre,  and  at  long  range 
they  would  have  been  useless.  This  was  at  five  minutes  before 
noon.  The  Japanese  fleet  was  not  deployed  in  a line  facing  the 
approaching  boats,  and  it  was  apparent  that  they  did  not  intend 
to  bring  their  whole  force  to  bear  upon  the  Russians  simul- 
taneously. We  are  informed  that  only  two  of  the  Japanese 
vessels,  the  Asama  and  the  Chiyoda,  did  the  work.  It  was  not 
long  after  the  warning  shots  had  been  fired  that  the  Japanese 
let  loose,  and  the  roar  that  went  up  from  those  terrible  machines 
of  destruction  tore  the  quiet  of  the  windless  bay  to  tatters  and 
made  the  houses  of  the  town  tremble  where  they  stood.  As 
the  Variak  advanced,  she  swerved  to  the  eastward  and  gave  the 
Japanese  her  starboard  broadside.  All  about  her  the  sea  was 
lashed  into  foam  by  striking  shot,  and  almost  from  the  begin- 
ning of  the  fight  her  steering-gear  was  shot  away,  so  that  she 
had  to  depend  on  her  engines  alone  for  steering.  It  became 


200 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


evident  to  her  commander  that  the  passage  was  impossible. 
He  had  pushed  eastward  until  there  was  imminent  danger  of 
running  aground.  So  he  turned  again  toward  the  west,  and 
came  around  in  a curve  which  brought  the  Variak  much  nearer 
to  the  Japanese.  It  was  at  this  time  that  the  deadly  work  was 
done  upon  her.  Ten  of  her  twelve  gun-captains  were  shot  away. 
A shell  struck  her  fo’castle,  passed  between  the  arm  and  body 
of  a gunner  who  had  his  hand  upon  his  hip  and,  bursting,  Tilled 
every  other  man  on  the  fo’castle.  Both  bridges  were  destroyed 
by  bursting  shells,  and  the  captain  was  seriously  wounded  in  the 
left  arm.  The  watchers  on  shore  and  on  the  shipping  in  the 
harbour  saw  flames  bursting  out  from  her  quarter-deck,  and 
one  witness  plainly  saw  shells  drop  just  beside  her  and  burst 
beneath  the  water-line.  It  was  these  shots  that  did  the  real 
damage,  for  when,  after  three-quarters  of  an  hour  of  steady 
fighting,  she  turned  her  prow  back  toward  the  anchorage  it  was 
seen  that  she  had  a heavy  list  to  port,  which  could  have  been 
caused  only  by  serious  damage  below  the  water-line.  As  the 
two  boats  came  slowly  back  to  port,  the  Variak  so  crippled  by 
the  destruction  of  one  of  her  engines  that  she  could  make  only 
ten  knots  an  hour,  the  Japanese  boats  followed,  pouring  in  a 
galling  fire,  until  the  Russians  had  almost  reached  the  anchor- 
age. Then  the  pursuers  drew  back  and  the  battle  was  over. 
The  Koryctz  was  intact.  The  Japanese  had  resen'ed  all  their 
fire  for  the  larger  vessel.  The  Variak  was  useless  as  a fighting 
machine,  for  her  heavy  list  to  port  would  probably  have  made 
it  impossible  to  train  the  guns  on  the  enemy,  but  all  knew  that 
the  end  had  not  yet  come.  The  Russians  had  neither  sunk  nor 
surrendered.  The  threat  of  the  Japanese  to  come  in  at  four 
o’clock  was  still  active.  As  soon  as  the  Variak  dropped  anchor 
the  British  sent  off  four  hospital  boats  to  her  Avith  a surgeon 
and  a nurse.  Other  vessels  also  sent  offers  of  aid.  But  it  was 
found  that  the  Russians  had  decided  to  lie  at  anchor  and  fight 
to  the  bitter  end,  and  at  the  last  moment  blow  up  their  A’essels 
with  all  on  board.  What  else  was  there  for  them  to  do?  They 


THE  BATTLE  OF  CHEMULPO 


201 


would  not  surrender,  and  they  could  not  leave  their  ships  and 
go  ashore  only  to  be  captured  by  the  enemy.  They  would  play 
out  the  tragedy  to  a finish,  and  go  down  fighting.  Upon  learn- 
ing of  this  determination,  the  commanders  of  the  various  neu- 
tral vessels  held  another  conference,  at  which  it  was  decided 
that  the  Russians  had  done  all  that  was  necessary  to  vindicate 
the  honour  of  their  flag,  and  that,  as  it  was  a neutral  port,  the 
survivors  should  be  invited  to  seek  asylum  on  the  neutral  vessels. 
The  invitation  was  accepted,  and  the  sixty-four  wounded  on 
board  the  Variak  were  at  once  transferred  to  the  British  cruiser 
Talbot  and  the  French  cruiser  Pascal.  As  the  commanders  of 
the  neutral  vessels  knew  that  the  Variak  and  Koryctz  were  to 
be  sunk  by  the  Russians,  they  paid  no  particular  attention  to 
the  reiterated  statement  of  the  Japanese,  that  they  would  enter 
the  harbour  at  four  and  finish  the  work  already  begun.  The 
passengers,  crew  and  mails  on  board  the  steamship  Sungari  had 
already  been  transferred  to  the  Pascal,  and  an  attempt  had  been 
made  to  scuttle  her,  but  she  was  filling  very  slowly  indeed.  It 
was  about  half-past  three  in  the  afternoon  that  the  officers  and 
crew  of  the  Koryefz  went  over  the  side  and  on  board  the  Pascal. 
A train  had  been  laid  by  which  she  would  be  blown  up,  and 
it  is  supposed  that  she  was  entirely  abandoned,  but  some  spec- 
tators assert  that  they  saw  several  men  on  the  forward  deck 
an  instant  before  the  explosion  took  place. 

It  was  generally  known  throughout  the  town  that  the  Koryets 
would  be  blown  up  before  four  o’clock,  and  everyone  sought 
some  point  of  vantage  from  which  to  witness  the  spectacle. 
Scores  of  people  went  out  to  the  little  island  on  which  the 
lighthouse  stands,  for  this  was  nearest  to  the  doomed  ship.  It 
was  thirty-seven  minutes  past  three  when  the  waiting  multitude 
saw  two  blinding  flashes  of  light,  one  following  the  other  in 
quick  succession.  A terrific  report  followed,  which  dwarfed  the 
roar  of  cannon  to  a whisper  and  shook  every  house  in  the  town 
as  if  it  had  been  struck  by  a solid  rock.  The  window-fastenings 
of  one  house  at  least  were  torn  off,  so  great  was  the  concussion. 


202 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


An  enormous  cloud  of  smoke  and  debris  shot  toward  the  sky 
and  at  the  same  time  enveloped  the  spot  where  the  vessel  had 
lain.  A moment  later  there  began  a veritable  shower  of  splin- 
tered wood,  torn  and  twisted  railing,  books,  clothes,  rope,  uten- 
sils and  a hundred  other  belongings  of  the  ship.  The  cloud 
of  smoke  expanded  in  the  upper  air  and  blotted  out  the  sun 
like  an  eclipse.  The  startled  gulls  flew  hither  and  thither,  as 
if  dazed  by  this  unheard-of  phenomenon,  and  men  instinctively 
raised  their  hands  to  protect  themselves  from  the  falling  debris, 
pieces  of  which  were  drifted  by  the  upper  currents  of  air  for 
a distance  of  three  miles  landward,  where  they  fell  by  the  hun- 
dreds in  people's  yards. 

Wflien  the  smoke  was  dissipated,  it  was  discovered  that  the 
Koryctz  had  sunk,  only  her  funnel  and  some  torn  rigging 
appearing  above  the  surface,  if  we  except  her  forward  steel 
deck,  which  the  force  of  the  explosion  had  bent  up  from  the 
prow  so  that  the  point  of  it,  like  the  share  of  a huge  plough, 
stood  several  feet  out  of  water.  The  surface  of  the  bay  all 
about  the  spot  was  covered  thickly  with  smoking  debris,  and 
several  of  the  ship’s  boats  were  floating  about  intact  upon  the 
water. 

The  Variak  was  left  to  sink  where  she  lay.  The  forty-one 
dead  on  board  were  placed  together  in  a cabin  and  went  down 
with  her.  She  burned  on  till  evening  and  then,  inclining  more 
and  more  to  port,  her  funnels  finally  touched  the  water,  and 
with  a surging,  choking  groan,  as  of  some  great  animal  in  pain, 
she  sank.  As  the  water  reached  the  fires  a cloud  of  steam  went 
up  which,  illuminated  by  the  last  flash  of  the  fire,  formed  her 
signal  of  farewell. 

It  was  arranged  that  the  British  and  the  French  boats  should 
carry  the  Russians  to  a neutral  port  and  guarantee  their  parole 
until  the  end  of  the  war. 

This  wholly  unexpected  annihilation  of  the  Russian  boats 
naturally  caused  consternation  among  the  Russians  of  Chemulpo 
and  Seoul.  The  Russian  Consulate  was  surrounded  by  the  Jap- 


THE  FRENCH  LEGATION  BUILDING 


p^c-x“i-C>  Ot  KOH-Ji-A. 

It  was  believf  '^  Japanese  guard,  withdrew.  This  was  the  first  point  at 
. i^^nich  the  two  belligerents  came  in  touch  with  each  other. 

It  was  on  the  night  of  the  23rd  of  February  that  Korea  signed 
with  Japan  a protocol,  by  the  terms  of  which  Korea  practically 
allied  herself  with  Japan  and  became,  as  it  were,  a silent  partner 
in  the  war.  Korea  granted  the  Japanese  the  right  to  use  Korea 
as  a road  to  Manchuria,  and  engaged  to  give  them  every  pos- 
sible facility  for  prosecuting  the  war.  On  the  other  hand,  Japan 
guaranteed  the  independence  of  Korea  and  the  safety  of  the 
imperial  family.  It  is  needless  to  discuss  the  degree  of  spon- 
taneity with  which  Korea  did  this.  It  was  a case  of  necessity, 
but  if  rightly  used  it  might  have  proved  of  immense  benefit  to 
Korea,  as  it  surely  did  to  Japan.  It  formally  did  away  with 
the  empty  husk  of  neutrality  which  had  been  proclaimed,  and 
made  every  seaport  of  the  peninsula  belligerent  territory,  even 
as  it  did  the  land  itself. 

March  saw  the  end  of  the  Peddlers’  Guild.  They  had  been 
organised  in  Russian  interests,  but  now  they  had  no  longer  any 
raison  d’etre.  As  a final  flurry,  one  of  their  number  entered 
the  house  of  the  Foreign  Minister  with  the  intent  to  murder 
him,  but  did  not  find  his  victim.  Other  similar  attempts  were 
made,  but  did  not  succeed. 

The  Japanese  handled  the  situation  in  Seoul  with  great  cir- 
cumspection. The  notion  that  they  would  attack  the  pro-Russian 
officials  proved  false.  Everything  was  kept  quiet,  and  the  per- 
turbation into  which  the  court  and  the  government  were  thrown 
by  these  startling  events  was  soon  soothed. 

Marquis  Ito  was  sent  from  Japan  with  a friendly  message 
to  the  Emperor  of  Korea,  and  this  did  much  to  quiet  the  un- 
settled state  of  things  in  Korea.  At  about  the  same  time  the 
northern  ports  of  Wiju  and  Yongampo  were  opened  to  foreign 
trade.  This  was  a natural  result  of  the  withdrawal  of  Russian 
influence.  It  was  not  long  before  Yi  Yong-ik,  who  had  played 
such  a leading  role  in  Korea,  was  invited  to  go  to  Japan,  and 
thus  an  element  of  unrest  was  removed  from  the  field  of  action. 


THE 'BATTLE  OF  CHEMUi.. 


anese  troops,  and  the  Consul  was  held  practically  a p 
The  Japanese  Minister  in  Seoul  suggested  to  the  Russian  i\Iin- 
ister,  through  the  French  Legation,  the  advisability  of  his 
removing  from  Seoul  with  his  nationals,  and  every  facility  was 
given  him  for  doing  this  with  expedition  and  with  comfort.  A 
few  days  later  all  the  Russians  were  taken  by  special  train  to 
Chemulpo,  and  there,  being  joined  by  the  Russian  subjects  in 
Chemulpo,  they  went  on  board  the  Pascal.  This  vessel  must 
have  been  crowded,  for  it  is  said  that  when  she  sailed  she  had 
on  hoard  six  hundred  Russians,  both  civilians  and  military 
men. 

Twenty-four  of  the  most  desperately  wounded  men  on  board 
the  neutral  ships  were  sent  ashore  and  placed  in  the  Provisional 
Red  Cross  Hospital.  For  this  purpose  the  English  Church  i\lis- 
sion  kindly  put  at  the  disposal  of  the  Japanese  their  hospital  at 
Chemulpo.  Several  of  these  wounded  men  were  suffering  from 
gangrene  when  they  came  off  the  Pascal,  but  with  the  most 
sedulous  care  the  Japanese  physicians  and  nurses  pulled  them 
through. 

After  this  battle  at  Chemulpo  there  was  no  more  question 
about  landing  Korean  troops  further  down  the  coast ; in  fact, 
as  soon  as  the  ice  was  out  of  the  Tadong  River,  Chinnampo 
became  the  point  of  disembarkation.  But  meanwhile  the  troops 
which  had  landed  at  Chemulpo  were  pushing  north  by  land 
as  rapidly  as  circumstances  would  permit,  and  within  a few 
weeks  of  the  beginning  of  the  war  Pyeng-yang  was  held  by  a 
strong  force  of  Japanese.  At  the  same  time  work  was  pushed 
rapidly  on  the  Seoul-Fusan  Railway  and  also  begun  on  the 
projected  railway  line  between  Seoul  and  Wiju. 

As  for  the  Russians,  they  ne^•er  seriously  in^-aded  Korean 
territory.  Bands  of  Cossacks  crossed  the  Yalu  and  scoured  the 
country  right  and  left,  hut  their  onl)^  serious  purpose  was  to 
keep  in  touch  with  the  enemy  and  report  as  to  their  movements. 
On  the  28th  of  February  a small  hand  of  Cossacks  approached 
the  north  gate  of  Pyeng-yang,  and,  after  exchanging  a few  shots 


THE  BATTLE  OF  CHEMULPO 


205 


It  was  believed  that  the  Japanese  would  immediately  introduce 
many  needed  reforms,  but  it  seemed  to  be  their  policy  to  go 
very  slowly,  so  slowly  in  fact  that  the  better  element  among  the 
Koreans  was  disappointed,  and  got  the  impression  that  Japan 
was  not  particularly  interested  in  the  matter  of  reform.  It  is 
probable  that  the  energies  of  the  Japanese  were  too  much 
engaged  in  other  directions  to  divert  any  to  Korea  at  the  time. 
They  had  been  complaining  bitterly  about  the  monetary  condi- 
tions, but  when  they  suddenly  stepped  into  power  in  Seoul  on  the 
9th  of  February  they  seemed  to  forget  all  about  this,  for  up  to 
the  end  of  1904  they  failed  to  do  anything  to  correct  the  vagaries 
of  Korean  finance.  But  instead  of  this  the  Japanese  merchants 
in  Korea  and  other  Japanese  who  were  here  for  other  reasons 
than  their  health  immediately  began  to  make  requests  and 
demands  for  all  sorts  of  privileges.  The  Board  of  Trade  in 
Fusan  asked  the  Japanese  government  to  secure  control  of  the 
Maritime  Customs  service,  permission  for  extra-territorial  privi- 
leges, the  establishment  of  Japanese  agricultural  stations  and 
other  impossible  things. 

Meanwhile  the  Japanese  were  steadily  pushing  north.  At 
Anju  a slight  skirmish  occurred,  but  there  was  nothing  that 
could  be  called  a fight  until  the  Japanese  reached  the  town  of 
Chong- ju,  where  a small  body  of  Russians  took  a stand  on  a 
hill  northwest  of  the  town  and  held  it  for  three  hours,  but  even 
here  the  casualties  were  only  about  fifteen  on  either  side.  The 
Russians  evidently  had  no  notion  of  making  a determined  stand 
this  side  the  Yalu.  Already,  a week  before,  the  Russian  troops 
had  withdrawn  from  Yongampo  and  had  crossed  to  Antung. 
This  fight  at  Chong-ju  occurred  on  the  28th  of  March,  and  a \Yeek 
later  practically  all  the  Russian  forces  had  crossed  the  Yalu,  and 
Korea  ceased  to  be  belligerent  territory.  It  is  not  the  province 
of  this  history  to  follow  the  Japanese  across  that  historic  river 
and  relate  the  events  which  occurred  at  the  beginning  of  May 
when  the  first  great  land  battle  of  the  war  was  fought. 

The  whole  north  had  been  thrown  into  the  greatest  con- 


j206 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


fusion  by  the  presence  of  these  two  belligerents.  Cossack  bands 
Iiad  scurried  about  the  country,  making  demands  for  food  and 
fodder,  a part  of  which  they  were  willing  to  pay  for  with  Rus- 
sian currency  cjuite  unknown  to  the  Korean.  From  scores  of 
villages  and  towns  the  women  had  fled  to  the  mountain  recesses 
at  a most  inclement  season,  and  untold  suffering  had  been 
-entailed.  But  these  are  things  that  always  come  in  the  track 
of  war,  and  the  Koreans  bore  them  as  uncomplainingly  as  they 
'could.  Throughout  the  whole  country  the  absorption  of  the 
attention  of  the  government  in  the  events  of  the  war  was  taken 
advantage  of  by  robbers,  and  their  raids  were  frequent  and 
■destructive.  As  soon  as  the  government  found  that  the  Jap- 
anese did  not  intend  to  rule  with  a high  hand,  it  sank  back  into 
the  former  state  of  self-complacent  lethargy',  and  things  went 
along  in  the  old  ruts.  It  was  perfectly  plain  that  Korean  official- 
dom had  no  enthusiasm  for  the  Japanese  cause.  It  is  probable 
that  a large  majority  of  the  people  preferred  to  see  Japan  win 
rather  than  the  Russians,  but  it  was  the  fond  wish  of  ninety-nine 
out  of  every  hundred  to  see  Korea  rid  of  them  both.  Whichever 
one  held  exclusix'e  power  here  was  certain  to  become  an  object 
of  hatred  to  the  Korean  people.  Had  the  Russians  driven  out 
the  Japanese,  the  Koreans  would  have  hated  them  as  heartily. 
Whichever  horn  of  the  dilemma  Korea  became  impaled  upon, 
she  was  sure  to  think  the  other  would  have  been  less  sharp. 
Few  Koreans  looked  at  the  matter  from  any  large  standpoint  or 
tried  to  get  from  the  situation  anything  but  personal  advantage. 
This  is  doubtless  the  reason  why  it  was  so  difficult  to  gain  an 
opinion  from  Korean  officials.  They'  did  not  want  to  go  on 
record  as  ha^•ing  any  decided  sympathies  either  way’.  The 
people  of  no  other  land  were  so  nearly’  neutral  as  were  those 
'of  Korea. 

The  temporary  effect  of  the  war  upon  the  Korean  currency 
was  to  enhance  its  value.  Imports  suddenly  came  to  a stand- 
still because  of  the  lack  of  steamships  and  the  possible  dangers 
■of  navigation.  This  stopped  the  demand  for  yen.  The  Japanese 


THE  BATTLE  OF  CHEMULPO 


207 


army  had  to  spend  large  sums  in  Korea,  and  this  required  the 
purchase  of  Korean  money.  The  result  was  that  the  yen,  instead 
of  holding  its  ratio  of  something  like  one  to  two  and  a half 
of  the  Korean  dollar,  fell  to  the  ratio  of  one  to  only  one  and 
four-tenths.  When,  however,  the  sea  was  cleared  of  the  Rus- 
sians and  import  trade  was  resumed  and  the  bulk  of  the  Jap- 
anese crossed  the  Yalu,  the  Korean  dollar  fell  again  to  a ratio 
■of  about  two  to  one,  which  it  has  preserved  up  to  the  present 
time. 

From  the  time  when  the  Russians  retired  beyond  the  Yalu, 
warlike  operations  between  the  two  belligerents  were  confined  to 
northeast  Korea,  though  even  there  very  little  was  doing.  The 
Vladivostock  squadron  was  still  in  being,  and  on  the  25th  of  April 
it  appeared  at  the  mouth  of  Wonsan  harbour.  Only  one  small 
Japanese  boat  was  at  anchor  there,  the  Goyo  Maru,  and  this 
was  destroyed  by  a torpedo-boat  which  came  in  for  the  express 
purpose.  Of  course  this  created  intense  excitement  in  the  town, 
and  there  was  a hurried  exodus  of  women  and  children,  but 
the  Russians  had  no  intention  of  bombarding  the  place,  and 
soon  took  their  departure.  Only  a few  hours  before  the  Kinshiu, 
a Japanese  transport  with  upwards  of  one  hundred  and  fifty 
troops  on  board,  had  sailed  for  Sung-ju  to  the  north  of  Won- 
san, but  meeting  bad  weather  in  the  night  the  torpedo-boats 
that  accompanied  her  were  obliged  to  run  for  shelter,  and  the 
Kinshiu  turned  back  for  Wonsan.  By  so  doing  she  soon  ran 
into  the  arms  of  the  Russian  fleet,  and,  refusing  to  surrender, 
was  sunk,  but  forty-five  of  the  troops  on  board  effected  their 
escape  to  the  mainland. 


CHAPTER  XIV 


THE  JAPANESE  IN  KOREA  • 

WE  must  now  go  back  and  inquire  into  important 
civil  matters.  We  have  seen  that  no  strong  attempt 
was  made  by  the  Japanese  to  secure  reforms  in 
the  administration  of  the  Korean  government,  and 
for  this  reason  many  of  the  best  Koreans  were  dissatisfied  with 
the  way  things  were  going.  Therefore  it  was  doubly  unfor- 
tunate that  on  the  17th  of  June  the  Japanese  authorities  should 
make  the  startling  suggestion  that  all  uncultivated  land  in 
the  peninsula,  as  well  as  other  national  resources,  should  be 
thrown  open  to  the  Japanese.  This  appears  to  have  been  a 
scheme  evolved  by  one  Nagamori,  and  broached  by  him  so 
speciously  to  the  powers  in  Tokyo  that  they  backed  him  in  it; 
but  there  can  be  no  question  that  it  was  a grave  mistake.  There 
is  no  other  point  on  which  the  Korean  is  so  sensitive  as  upon 
that  of  his  land.  He  is  a son  of  the  soil,  and  agriculture  is  the 
basis  of  all  his  institutions.  The  mere  proposal  raised  an  instant 
storm  of  protest  from  one  end  of  Korea  to  the  other.  The 
Koreans  saw  in  this  move  the  entering  wedge  which  would  rive 
the  country.  It  was  the  beginning  of  the  end.  This  excessive 
show  of  feeling  Avas  not  expected  by  tlie  Japanese,  and  it  is 
probable  that  their  intentions  were  by  no  means  so  black  as  the 
Koreans  pictured  them.  The  A’ery  general  terms  in  which  the 
proposal  Avas  Avorded,  and  the  almost  entire  lack  of  limiting 
particulars,  gave  occasion  for  all  sorts  of  Avild  conjectures  and, 
it  must  be  confessed,  left  the  door  open  to  A'ery  Avide  construc- 
tions. The  time  Avas  unpropitious,  the  method  Avas  unfortunate, 
and  the  subject-matter  of  the  proposal  itself  Avas  questionable. 
The  all-important  matter  of  Avater  supply  and  control,  the  diffi- 


THE  JAPANESE  IN  KOREA 


209 


culties  of  jurisdiction  on  account  of  the  extra-territorial  rights 
implied  in  the  proposal,  and  other  allied  questions  immediately 
presented  themselves  to  the  minds  of  Koreans,  and  they  recog- 
nised the  fact  that  the  carrying  out  of  this  plan  would  neces- 
sarily result  in  a Japanese  protectorate,  if  not  absolute  absorption 
into  the  Empire  of  Japan.  The  Japanese  do  not  seem  to  have 
followed  the  logic  of  the  matter  to  this  point,  or  else  had 
not  believed  the  Koreans  capable  of  doing  so.  But  when  the 
storm  of  protest  broke  it  carried  everything  before  it.  The 
Japanese  were  not  prepared  to  carry  the  thing  to  extremes,  and, 
after  repeated  attempts  at  a compromise,  the  matter  was  dropped, 
though  the  Japanese  neither  withdrew  their  request  nor  accepted 
the  refusal  of  the  Korean  government.  It  is  a matter  of  great 
regret  that  the  Japanese  did  not  quietly  and  steadily  press  the 
question  of  internal  reforms,  and  by  so  doing  hasten  the  time 
when  the  Korean  people  as  a whole  would  repose  such  confi- 
dence in  the  good  intentions  of  the  neighbour  country  that  even 
such  plans  as  this  of  the  waste  lands  could  be  carried  through 
without  serious  opposition;  for  it  is  quite  sure  that  there  is  a 
large  area  of  fallow  land  in  Korea  which  might  well  be  put 
under  the  plough. 

During  the  weeks  when  the  Japanese  were  pressing  for  a 
favourable  answer  to  the  waste-land  proposition  the  Koreans 
adopted  a characteristic  method  of  opposition.  A society  calling 
itself  the  Po-an  was  formed.  The  name  means  “ Society  for  the 
Promotion  of  Peace  and  Safety.”  It  had  among  its  member- 
ship some  of  the  leading  Korean  officials.  It  held  meetings  at 
the  cotton  guild  in  the  centre  of  Seoul,  and  a good  deal  of 
excited  discussion  took  place  as  to  ways  and  means  for  defeating 
the  purpose  of  the  Japanese.  At  the  same  time  memorials  by 
the  same  poured  in  upon  the  Emperor,  beseeching  him  not  to 
give  way  to  the  demands.  The  Japanese"  determined  that  these 
forms  of  opposition  must  be  put  down;  so  on  the  i6th  of  July  the 
meeting  of  the  society  was  broken  in  upon  by  the  Japanese 
police,  and  some  of  the  leading  members  were  forcibly  carried 


210 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


away  to  the  Japanese  police  station.  Other  raids  were  made 
upon  the  society,  and  more  of  its  members  were  arrested  and  its 
papers  confiscated.  The  Japanese  warned  the  government  that 
these  attempts  to  stir  up  a riot  must  be  put  down  with  a stern 
hand,  and  demanded  that  those  who  persisted  in  sending  in  me- 
morials against  the  Japanese  be  arrested  and  punished.  If  the 
Korean  government  would  not  do  it,  the  Japanese  threatened  to 
take  the  law  into  their  own  hands.  The  Japanese  troops  in  Seoul 
were  augmented  until  the  number  was  fully  six  thousand. 

The  agitation  was  not  confined  to  Seoul,  for  leading  Koreans- 
sent  out  circular  letters  to  all  the  country  districts  urging  the 
people  to  come  up  to  Seoul  and  make  a monster  demonstration, 
which  should  convince  the  Japanese  that  they  were  in  dead 
earnest.  Many  of  these  letters  were  suppressed  by  the  prefects, 
but  in  spite  of  this  the  news  spread  far  and  wide,  and  the 
society  enrolled  thousands  of  members  in  every  province. 

The  effect  of  this  was  seen  when,  early  in  August,  the  Jap- 
anese military  authorities  asked  for  the  services  of  six  thousand 
Korean  coolies  in  the  north  at  handsome  wages.  The  number 
was  apportioned  among  different  provinces,  but  the  results  were- 
meagre.  Disaffected  persons  spread  the  report  that  these  coolies 
would  be  put  on  the  fighting  line,  and  it  was  with  the  greatest 
difficulty  that  two  thousand  were  secured.  There  were  san- 
guinary fights  in  many  towns  where  attempts  were  made  tO' 
force  coolies  to  go  against  their  will.  It  was  perfectly  right 
for  the  Japanese  to  wish  to  secure  such  labour,  but  the  tide  of 
public  sentiment  was  flowing  strong  in  the  other  direction,  be- 
cause of  the  attempt  to  secure  the  waste  land  and  because  of  the 
suspension  of  the  right  of  free  speech. 

The  cessation  of  Japanese  efforts  to  push  the  waste-land 
measure  did  not  put  an  end  to  agitation  throughout  the  country, 
and  the  Po-an  Society  continued  to  carry  on  its  propaganda,  until 
on  the  22nd  of  August  a new  society  took  the  field,  named  the- 
Il-chin  Society.  This  was  protected  by  the  Japanese  police,  who> 
allowed  only  properly  accredited  members  to  enter  its  doors.. 


MARTIAL  LAW 


I 


•j 

i 


THE  JAPANESE  IN  KOREA 


21 1 


This  looked  as  if  it  were  intended  as  a counter-move  to  the 
Po-an  Society,  and,  as  the  latter  was  having  very  little  success,, 
a third  society  took  up  the  gauntlet  under  the  name  of  the 
Kuk-min,  or  “ National  People’s  ” Society.  The  platforms  pro- 
mulgated by  all  these  societies  were  quite  faultless,  but  the 
institutions  had  no  power  whatever  to  carry  out  their  laudable- 
plans,  and  so  received  only  the  smiles  of  the  public. 

During  tbe  summer  the  Japanese  suggested  that  it  would 
be  well  for  Korea  to  recall  her  foreign  representatives.  The 
idea  was  to  have  Korean  diplomatic  business  abroad  transacted 
through  Japanese  legations.  Whether  this  was  a serious  attempt 
or  only  a feeler  put  out  to  get  the  sense  of  the  Korean  govern- 
ment we  are  unable  to  say,  but  up  to  the  end  of  the  year  the- 
matter  was  not  pushed. 

The  various  societies  which  had  been  formed  as  protests 
against  existing  conditions  stated  some  things  that  ought  to 
be  accomplished,  but  suggested  no  means  by  which  they  could 
be  done.  The  difficulty  which  besets  the  country  is  the  lack  of 
general  education,  and  no  genuine  improvement  can  be  looked 
for  until  the  people  are  educated  up  to  it.  For  this  reason  a 
number  of  foreigners  joined  themselves  into  the  Educational 
Association  of  Korea,  their  aim  being  to  provide  suitable  text- 
books for  Korean  schools  and  to  help  in  other  ways  toward 
the  solution  of  the  great  cpiestion.  About  the  same  time  the 
Minister  of  Education  presented  the  government  with  a recom- 
mendation that  the  graduates  of  the  government  schools  be 
given  the  preference  in  the  distribution  of  public  offices.  This 
had  no  apparent  effect  upon  the  government  at  the  time,  but 
this  is  what  must  come  before  students  will  flock  to  the  gov- 
ernment schools  with  any  enthusiasm.  Later  in  the  year  a large 
number  of  Koreans  also  founded  an  educational  society.  It 
made  no  pretensions  to  political  significance,  but  went  quietly 
to  work,  gathering  together  those  who  are  convinced  that  the 
education  of  the  masses  is  the  one  thing  needed  to  put  Korea, 
firmly  upon  her  feet. 


212 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


In  the  middle  of  October  the  Japanese  military  authorities 
sent  Marshal  Hasegawa  to  take  charge  of  military  affairs  in 
Korea.  He  arrived  on  the  13th,  and  shortly  after  went  to 
Wonsan  to  inspect  matters  in  that  vicinity.  The  news  of  con- 
siderable Russian  activity  in  northeast  Korea  seemed  to  need 
careful  watching,  and  the  presence  of  a general  competent  to 
do  whatever  was  necessary  to  keep  them  in  check. 

The  laying  of  the  last  rail  of  the  Seoul-Fusan  Railway  was 
an  event  of  great  importance  to  Korea.  It  adds  materially 
to  the  wealth  of  the  country,  both  by  forming  a means  of  rapid 
communication  and  by  enhancing  the  value  of  all  the  territory 
through  which  it  runs.  It  also  gives  Japan  such  a large  vested 
interest  here  that  it  becomes,  in  a sense,  her  guarantee  to  pre- 
vent the  country  from  falling  into  the  hands  of  other  powers. 
But,  like  all  good  things,  it  has  its  dangers  as  well. 

Mr.  Megata,  the  new  Adviser  to  the  Finance  Department, 
arrived  in  the  autumn,  and  began  a study  of  Korean  monetary 
and  financial  conditions.  This  should  have  been  an  augury  of 
good,  for  Korean  finance  has  always  been  in  a more  or  less 
chaotic  condition,  but,  as  we  shall  see,  it  spelled  worse  disaster 
than  ever. 

Late  in  the  year  Air.  Stevens,  the  newly  appointed  Adviser 
of  the  Foreign  Department,  took  up  his  duties,  which,  though 
less  important  than  those  of  Mr.  Megata,  nevertheless  gave 
promise  that  the  foreign  relations  of  the  government  would  be 
handled  exclusively  in  the  interests  of  Japan. 

The  year  1905  gives  us  a complete  picture  of  Japanese 
methods  in  handling  an  alien  people.  It  has  been  said  that 
Japan  has  much  the  same  work  to  do  in  Korea  that  England 
has  in  Egypt.  Let  us  see  how  far  the  methods  of  these  two 
powerful  governments  coincide.  It  has  been  said,  again,  that  up 
to  the  present  time  Japan  has  not  been  able  to  show  what  she 
can  do  in  this  line,  because  she  has  been  so  busy  with  tlie  war, 
but  we  would  ask  the  reader  to  note  that  an  American  gentle- 
man who  has  resided  many  years  in  Formosa  made  the  remark 


THE  JAPANESE  IN  KOREA 


213 


publicly  that  the  methods  used  by  Japan  in  Korea  are  precisely 
those  that  have  been  used  in  Formosa  ever  since  the  China- 
Japan  war  of  1894. 

The  whole  Japanese  army  is  made  up  of  men  of  the  upper 
middle  class.  No  man  of  the  lower  classes  can  stand  in  the 
ranks  of  that  army.  It  is  generally  known  that  the  relative 
social  grade  of  the  Japanese  soldier  is  much  higher  than  in  any 
other  country.  These  are  men  who  have  imbibed  the  old  Samu- 
rai spirit  and  who  in  just  that  proportion  hold  themselves  above 
the  lower  classes.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  such  a remark- 
able change  came  over  the  face  of  affairs  in  Korea  after  the 
Japanese  armies  had  passed  and  the  thousands  of  adventurers 
and  self-seekers  followed  in  its  train.  Unlawful  action  by  a Jap- 
anese soldier  was  almost  unknown,  and  the  Koreans  were  con- 
strained to  lay  aside  their  old-time  suspicion  and  receive  them 
as  harbingers  of  a new  and  better  era.  When,  therefore,  the 
heavy  influx  of  low-class  Japanese  began,  and  they,  on  the 
strength  of  the  prowess  of  Japanese  arms,  began  to  treat 
the  Koreans  as  the  very  scum  of  the  earth  and  to  perpetrate 
all  sorts  of  outrages,  it  was  inevitable  that  a mighty  reaction 
should  take  place.  It  has  never  been  explained  why  the  Jap- 
anese authorities  did  not  hold  back  this  tide  of  immigration  until 
the  war  was  over  and  proper  steps  could  be  taken  to  establish 
sufficient  legal  machinery  to  govern  the  ruffians  properly. 

It  will  be  asked  what  speciflc  evidence  is  there  that  Koreans 
were  ill-treated.  This  question  must  be  met  and  answered. 
The  following  are  a few  of  the  cases  that  have  come  within  the 
notice  of  the  writer  and  of  other  American  residents  in  Seoul  and 
other  parts  of  Korea,  and  which  can  be  thoroughly  attested. 

An  American  gentleman  stood  upon  a railway  station  plat- 
form where  a score  or  more  of  Japanese  were  waiting  for  a 
train.  An  aged  Korean,  leaning  upon  a staff,  mounted  the  plat- 
form and  looked  about  him  with  interest.  It  is  likely  that  he 
had  never  before  seen  a railroad  train.  A half-naked  Japanese 
employee  of  the  road  seized  the  old  man  by  the  beard  and  threw 


214 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


him  heavily  upon  the  station  platform.  The  Korean  arose  with 
difficulty  and  picked  up  his  cane  to  go.  The  Japanese  then 
threw  him  backwards  off  the  platform  on  to  the  rails,  and  then 
stood  back  and  laughed,  as  did  all  the  other  Japanese.  Appar- 
ently there  was  not  a single  Japanese  in  all  that  company  who 
saw  in  this  event  anything  but  a good  joke.  The  old  Korean 
was  too  severely  hurt  to  rise,  but  some  of  his  Korean  friends 
came  and  picked  him  up  and  took  him  away.  The  reader  will 
wonder  why  the  American  gentleman  did  not  interfere.  Well, 
the  fact  is,  he  knew  he  would  be  uselessly  sacrificing  his  own 
life.  If  he  had  raised  a finger  in  the  Korean’s  defence,  the 
chances  of  his  getting  away  without  being  killed  would  have 
been  less  than  one  in  a hundred.  At  another  station  there  is 
a little  side-path  where  Koreans  are  forbidden  to  walk,  but 
there  is  no  sign  whatever  so  to  indicate.  A Korean  stepped  out 
upon  this  walk,  and  was  instantly  attacked  by  three  or  four 
Japanese  and  pounded  into  insensibility.  It  was  a day  or  more 
before  he  regained  consciousness,  and  he  was  not  able  to  leave 
his  house  for  weeks. 

The  Japanese  look  upon  the  Koreans  as  lawful  game,  and 
the  latter,  having  no  proper  tribunals  where  they  can  obtain 
redress,  do  not  dare  to  retaliate.  If  they  complain  at  Korean 
courts,  the  magistrate  lifts  hands  of  horror  and  asks  how  in  the 
world  he  is  to  get  anything  out  of  the  Japanese,  and  if  he  applies 
to  a Japanese  court  he  is  usually  turned  away  without  a hear- 
ing. This  is  hard  to  believe,  but  the  following  facts  go  far  to 
prove  it. 

A Korean  brought  in  from  the  country  some  Korean  money 
to  exchange  for  Japanese  money.  He  deposited  his  cash  with 
the  leading  Japanese  broker,  taking  the  latter’s  note  of  hand, 
payable  at  sight  to  bearer.  Two  days  later  he  came  to  have  the 
note  cashed,  and  the  broker  said  he  had  already  paid  it.  but  had 
failed  in  the  hurry  of  the  moment  to  take  the  note.  The  Korean 
tried  three  times  to  place  the  matter  before  the  proper  Japanese 
authorities,  but  was  thwarted  each  time,  and  when  at  last,  by 


THE  JAPANESE  IN  KOREA 


215 


the  aid  of  a foreigner,  he  got  the  case  taken  up,  he  was  roundly 
scolded  for  obtaining  foreign  help,  — but  the  money  was  paid. 
An  American  gentleman  was  served  the  same  trick  by  the  same 
broker,  and,  though  the  Japanese  authorities  granted  that  it  was 
a perfectly  clear  case,  he  recovered  the  money  only  after  nine 
months  of  hard  work,  and  then  without  interest.  A Korean 
bought  a valuable  business  block  from  a Japanese,  but  when  he 
went  to  claim  it  the  Japanese  tenant  who  had  rented  it  from  the 
former  owner  refused  to  leave,  on  the  plea  that  he  had  no  other 
place  to  go.  Time  and  again  the  owner  applied  to  the  Japanese 
for  redress,  and  it  was  only  after  a foreigner  interfered  and 
pressed  the  matter  that  the  Japanese  authorities  were  shamed 
into  doing  tardy  justice. 

The  trouble  has  been  that,  however  good  may  have  been 
the  plans  of  the  highest  men  in  Japan,  they  have  not  a sufficient 
body  of  agents  who  are  broad-minded  enough  to  carry  out  the 
plans  in  the  spirit  they  are  given.  To  illustrate  this:  in  the 
building  and  repairing  of  the  railroad  it  is  found  cheaper  to 
use  Koreans  than  Japanese.  The  head  office  orders  the  work  to 
be  done  and  says  that  Koreans  must  be  treated  properly.  There 
it  ends.  The  Japanese  headmen  of  the  working  gangs  go  into 
the  villages  all  along  the  way,  and  at  the  point  of  the  revolver 
or  sword  compel  Koreans  by  the  hundreds  to  go  and  work  at 
one-third  of  a day’s  wage.  They  have  the  option  of  making  a 
money  payment  in  lieu  of  work,  but  they  have  to  pay,  for  each 
day  that  they  get  off,  twice  what  they  would  have  received.  In 
this  way  one  township  handed  over  some  twenty  thousand  dol- 
lars of  blackmail,  and  for  part  of  it  they  had  to  pay  tzvelve  per 
cent  a month  to  money-lenders! 

The  Koreans  have  suffered  especially  in  the  matter  of  real 
estate.  On  the  strength  of  Korea’s  promise  to  supply  all  the 
land  necessary  for  Japanese  military  operations,  the  latter  have 
gone  in  and  seized  the  most  valuable  property  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  largest  towns  in  Korea.  When  the  people  ask  for  pay- 
ment, they  are  told  to  go  to  their  own  government  for  payment. 


2i6 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


But  the  Japanese  know  that  the  government  has  no  money  and 
that  the  land  is  simply  confiscated.  But  not  only  so ; men  claim- 
ing to  be  connected  with  the  Japanese  army  go  out  into  the 
country  districts  and  seize  any  land  they  like,  repeating  simply 
the  formula  “ This  is  for  military  purposes.”  The  writer  has 
been  repeatedly  asked  to  interfere  in  such  cases  of  fraud. 
Koreans  have  come  hundreds  of  miles  to  sell  their  farms  to 
a foreigner  for  a few  cents  each,  simply  that  they  might  be 
under  a foreigner’s  name,  and  so  escape  wanton  seizure.  Dur- 
ing the  year  1905  there  was  no  such  thing  as  justice  for  the 
Korean  either  from  the  private  Japanese  or  from  the  officials. 
The  military  put  their  hands  upon  eight  square  miles  of  the 
most  valuable  land  near  Seoul  simply  for  the  building  of  bar- 
racks and  parade  grounds  for  twelve  thousand  men,  when  ex- 
perts affirm  that  one-sixteenth  of  that  space  would  have  been 
ample.  That  land  could  not  be  bought  in  open  market  for  six 
million  dollars,  but  the  Japanese  knew  the  government  could  not 
pay  a proper  price,  so  they  gave  two  hundred  thousand  dollars, 
to  cover  the  cost  of  removal  only.  And  this  is  all  the  Koreans 
could  ever  hope  to  get.  The  most  elementary  laws  of  human 
right  and  justice  have  been  daily  and  hourly  trampled  under 
foot.  Hardly  an  effort  has  been  made  to  carry  out  any  reform 
that  would  better  the  condition  of  the  Korean  people. 

Mark  the  action  of  the  man  who  controlled  the  finances  of 
the  country,  — a Japanese.  The  country  was  flooded  with  coun- 
terfeit nickels,  made  largely  by  Japanese  in  Osaka,  and  brought 
over  to  Korea  by  the  millions.  The  Korean  currency  fell  to  a 
ruinous  discount,  and  Japanese  merchants  were  suffering  severely 
because  of  the  rapid  fluctuations  of  exchange.  The  Adviser 
determined  that  the  Korean  government  should  borrow  several 
million  yen  from  Japan,  and  with  it  make  a new  currency  to 
substitute  for  the  one  in  use.  When  it  was  learned  that  Korea 
was  to  pay  six  per  cent  for  this  money,  Korean  financiers  came 
forward  and  said  that  they  would  lend  their  government  the  neces- 
sary money  at  a far  lower  rate.  They  did  it  to  keep  Korea  out 


VIEWS  OF  PICTURESQUE  KOREA 

(a)  Pyeng-yang,  looking  down  the  Ta-dong  River  from  the  wall 
{b)  A pleasure-house  on  the  wall  of  Su-wiin 


V? 


i 

THE  JAPANESE  IN  KOREA 


217 


of  debt  to  Japan,  but  the  Adviser  refused  to  allow  it.  The  money- 
must  be  borrowed  from  Japan  at  the  higher  rate.  A few  million 
dollars’  worth  of  nickels  were  made  in  Japan,  where  the  Japanese 
enjoyed  the  profit,  which  amounted  to  over  fifty  per  cent,  and  the 
nickels  were  sent  to  Korea.  The  Adviser  announced  that  on  the 
1st  of  June,  or  about  then,  everybody  who  brought  nickels  would 
receive  the  new  ones  at  par  with  the  Japanese  money,  but  would 
receive  one  new  one  for  two  of  the  old.  As  the  old  nickels  were 
kt  a discount  of  240,  this  would  mean  that  anyone  with  capital 
could  buy  up  old  nickels  at  240,  and  exchange  them  at  200. 
Chinese  and  Japanese  merchants  leaped  to  do  so,  and  the  market 
was  sucked  dry  of  money.  When  the  day  of  exchanging  came, 
it  was  found  that  the  supply  of  new  nickels  was  entirely  inade- 
quate. So  the  exchange  was  put  off  for  two  months ; then  for 
two  riior|.Y^^  /■  more.  Meanwhile  the  Korean  merchants  were 
going  wall  because  they  could  not  meet  their  notes,  owing 

to  the  t ingl’  2SS  of  the  money  market.  Some  of  them  were  try- 
ing to  ; themselves  by  borrowing  from  Japanese  usurers 
'die  m?  ^ month.  At  this  most  painful  juncture  the 
- whoh  ‘oposed  to  lend  some  three  hundred  thousand  dollars 
what  Ja-'^^^^  funds  to  his  suffering  merchants;  but  when  he 
the  Japanese  bank,  where  his  funds  were 

- .■;po..xted,  the  Japanese  Adviser  ordered  pa}TOent  stopped,  and 
would  not  let  him  draw  out  his  private  funa^  even  to  help  the 
merchants  in  their  desperate  straits.  There  i^  no  language  too 
strong  in  which  to  denounce  this  outrage. 

In  the  northern  city  of  Pyeng-yang  the  Jali)anese  carried  on 
enormous  confiscations  of  land.  They  even  eniplosed  with  their, 
stakes  property  belonging  to  American  citizens,  and  when  the 
owners  complained  to  the  Japanese  Consul  thejr  were  told  that 
it  would  be  all  right,  but  that  they  had  better  ,not  remove  the 
stakes  at  present.  Nor  did  the  Americans  dare  to  do  so;  for 
though  they  themselves  would  have  been  safe,  their  servants 
would  have  been  seized  by  Japanese  and  cruelly  beaten.  A 
Korean  in  that  town  was  ordered  by  a private  Japanese  to  sell 


2i8 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 

his  house  for  a quarter  of  its  value.  He  deuiurred  at  this,  but 
was  seized,  dragged  away  to  a neighbouring  Japanese  barracks, 
and  given  a severe  beating.  In  his  shame  and  anger  at  this 
disgrace  he  took  morphine  and  killed  himself.  Almost  before 
his  body  was  cold  the  Japanese  came  and  demanded  that  his 
widow  sell  the  house  at  the  price  suggested.  She  replied  that 
she  would  die  first.  How  it  ended  the  wndter  has  never  heard. 
A Korean  boatman  attempted  to  go  under  the  bridge  at  Pyeng- 
yang  while  it  was  under  construction.  This  w’a.s  forbidden,  but 
there  was  no  proper  sign  to  indicate  the  fact.  The  Japanese 
railway  coolies  threw*  him  out  of  his  boat.  He  clung  to  some 
timbers  in  the  water,  but  the  Japanese  beat  his  h,  nds  with  rail- 
road bolts  until  his  fingers  were  broken,  and  h fell  off  and 
drowned.  Two  days  later  the  murdered  man’s  lather,  having 
secured  the  body,  brought  it  to  the  Japanese  Consul  ai  ' ded 

justice.  He  was  driven  away  with  the  statement  th^  > tbe 

would  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  case.  The  crii  vgbtt^'ere 

well  known  and  could  have  been  captured  with  ease. 

In  the  city  of  Seoul,  almost  within  a stone’s-thi  the 

Japanese  Consulate,  a Korean  widow  came  to  the  hoi  the 
writer  and  begged  him  to  buy  her  house  for  five  cents 
his  name  on  the  door-post,  because  she  had  reason  tc 
that  unless  she  sold  the  house  for  half  price  to  a Japanese 
next  door  he  avould  undermine  the  wall  of  her  house  and  let 
it  fall  upon  her  head.  The  Koreans  say  deliberately  that  time 
and  again  naked  Japanese  have  run  into  Korean  houses  and 
shocked  the  Korean  women  outrageously,  simply  in  order  to 
make  the  owner  willing  to  sell  out  at  any  price. 

An  American  resident  in  one  of  the  ports  of  Korea  related 
to  the  writer  the  case  of  a Korean  landowner  who  lost  his 
property  through  the  following  piece  of  trickery.  A Japanese 
employed  a disreputable  Korean  to  make  out  a false  deed  of  the 
land  and,  armed  w*ith  this,  went  to  take  possession.  The  real 
owner  exhibited  the  true  and  incontestable  deeds;  but  when  the 
matter  was  referred  to  the  Japanese  authorities,  the  false  deeds 


THE  JAPANESE  IN  KOREA 


219 


carried  the  day,  and  a man  who  had  held  the  property  for  years 
was  summarily  ejected. 

A bishop  of  the  Methodist  Church  in  America  was  travelling 
with  two  missionaries  through  the  country  near  Seoul.  They 
had  to  cross  a railroad  embankment  that  was  in  construction. 
They  walked  a few  rods  along  the  embankment,  and  because  of 
this  ay  were  attacked  by  a gang  of  Japanese  coolies,  and  the 
two  lissionaries  were  severely  hurt.  It  was  only  by  the  merest 
good  luck  that  any  of  them  escaped  with  their  lives.  No  punish- 
ment at  all  commensurate  with  the  crime  was  inflicted.  A 
Japanese  refused  to  pay  his  fare  on  the  American  electric  cars 
and  was  put  off.  He  ran  into  a near-by  Korean  rice  shop,  turned 
the  rice  out  of  a bag,  placed  it  on  the  track  and  lay  down  upon 
it.  He  defied  the  Korean  motormen  to  ride  over  him.  No  one 
dared  to  touch  him,  for  this  would  have  been  the  signal  for  a 
bloody  reprisal  on  the  part  of  the  Japanese  who  lived  all  about. 
When  the  Americans  complain  of  such  things,  they  are  told  by 
the  Japanese  authorities  that  they  can  be  easily  avoided  by 
employing  Japanese. 

As  the  year  advanced,  the  Japanese  kept  at  work  gathering 
in  the  material  resources  of  the  country.  Fishing  rights  along 
the  whole  coast  were  demanded  and  given.  No  one  who  knows 
what  Japanese  fishermen  are  like  will  doubt  for  a moment  that 
the  Koreans  will  be  driven  from  the  fishing  grounds.  Then 
the  coast-trading  and  riparian  rights  were  seized,  looking  toward 
a complete  absorption  of  the  large  coastwise  and  river  traffic. 
Korean  methods  are  slower  and  more  cumbersome,  and  herein 
lies  Japan’s  excuse  for  driving  Koreans  from  the  business. 

The  signing  of  the  Treaty  of  Peace  with  Russia  at  Ports- 
mouth was  the  signal  for  a still  more  active  policy  in  Korea. 
The  American  people  had  been  brought  to  believe  that  the 
Korean  people  were  as  unworthy  of  regard  as  the  Japanese 
were  above  criticism,  and  steps  were  taken  to  arrange  for  the 
■declaration  of  a protectorate  over  the  peninsular  kingdom. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  Japan  had  solemnly  promised. 


220 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  to  preserve  the  independence  of 
Korea,  but  it  now  appeared  that  that  promise  was  made  solely 
as  a preparation  for  the  act  which  was  to  follow.  The  seizure 
of  Korea  and  the  extinction  of  her  independence  has  been  called 
a logical  outcome  of  events.  Russia  had  agreed  to  recognise 
Japan’s  preponderating  influence  in  Korea,  but  what  had  that  to 
do  with  Japan’s  definite  and  explicit  promise  to  preserve  the 
independence  of  Korea?  It  was  evidently  only  the  removal  of 
the  last  obstacle  which  stood  in  the  way  of  the  breaking  of  that 
promise.  But  Japan  saw  that  it  would  be  necessary^  to  proceed 
with  caution.  The  only  way  to  secure  a protectorate  without 
a manifest  breach  of  faith  was,  first,  to  secure  the  acquiescence 
of  the  Korean  government.  If  Korea  could  be  induced  to  ask 
Japan  to  assume  a protectorate,  all  would  go  well.  Here  was  the 
crux  of  the  situation. 

Early  in  the  autumn  of  1905  the  Emperor  was  approached 
with  this  suggestion,  but  he  repudiated  it  instantly.  He  recog- 
nised the  predominance  of  Japanese  power  in  Korea  and  acqui- 
esced in  the  advisorships  in  the  various  departments,  but  when 
it  came  to  turning  over  the  whole  government  and  nation  bodily 
to  Japan,  without  the  least  hope  of  a future  rehabilitation  of  the 
national  independence,  he  refused  in  the  plainest  terms.  He  saw 
very  well  that  the  Japanese  were  determined  to  carry  the  day, 
but  he  knew  that  if  he  held  firm  it  could  not  be  done  without 
arousing  the  indignation  of  the  world.  He  determined  to  lodge 
a protest  at  Washington,  forestalling  violent  action  on  the  part 
of  Japan.  The  first  clause  of  the  treaty  of  1883  between  Korea 
and  the  United  States  says  that  if  either  of  the  contracting 
parties  is  injured  by  a third  party  the  other  shall  interfere  with 
her  good  offices  to  effect  an  amicable  settlement. 

It  was  impossible  to  lodge  this  protest  in  Washington 
through  the  Korean  Foreign  Office,  for  that  was  in  control  of 
a person  thoroughly  “ in  the  sleeve  ” of  Japan.  The  only  thing 
to  do  was  to  send  a personal  and  private  communication  to  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  calling  attention  to  Japanese 


THE  JAPANESE  IN  KOREA 


221 


wrongs  in  Korea,  and  asking  the  President  to  investigate  the 
matter  and  render  Korea  what  help  he  could. 

That  message  was  despatched  from  Korea  in  October  at  the 
hand  of  the  writer,  but  the  Japanese  surmised  what  was  being 
done.  A Japanese  spy  on  board  the  steamer  at  Yokohama  dis- 
covered the  exact  hour  when  the  message  would  arrive  in 
Washington,  and  from  that  very  hour  events  were  hurried  to 
their  culmination  in  the  Korean  capital. 

Marquis  Ito  was  sent  to  Seoul  with  definite  instructions. 
Korea  was  to  be  induced  to  sign  away  her  national  existence 
voluntarily.  Many  conferences  took  place  between  the  Japanese 
authorities  and  the  Korean  Cabinet,  but  without  result.  The 
Koreans  stood  firm  on  the  treaty  of  1904,  in  which  Japan  guar- 
anteed the  independence  of  the  country,  and  nothing  could  make 
them  budge.  Not  one  of  the  Cabinet  consented.  It  was  quite 
clear  that  stronger  agencies  would  have  to  be  used.  Finally, 
after  a very  strenuous  conference  at  the  Japanese  legation,  the 
whole  meeting  adjourned  to  the  audience  chamber  of  the  Em- 
peror, and  the  curtain  went  up  on  the  last  scene  of  the  tragedy. 
The  Emperor  and  every  one  of  his  ministers  stood  firm.  They 
would  die  sooner  than  acquiesce.  Repeated  exhortations  and 
inducements  were  offered,  but  the  Koreans  were  immovable. 
When  this  deadlock  occurred,  the  scenes  were  shifted  a little, 
and  Japanese  gendarmes  and  police  suddenly  appeared  and  sur- 
rounded the  audience  chamber  and  blocked  every  approach  to 
the  imperial  presence.  The  Emperor,  feeling  sure  that  personal 
injury  was  determined  upon,  retired  to  a little  anteroom.  No 
sane  person  can  deny  that  he  had  sufficient  reason  to  fear.  The 
strongest  man  in  the  Cabinet  was  the  Prime  Minister,  Han 
Kyu-sul,  and  it  was  evident  that  only  by  segregating  him  and 
handling  the  Cabinet  without  him  could  the  desired  result  be  ac- 
complished. When,  therefore,  the  Prime  Minister  retired  to  the 
apartment  where  the  Emperor  was,  supposably  with  the  inten- 
tion of  conferring  with  him,  he  was  followed  by  Japanese  armed 
officials  and  detained  in  a side  room.  The  Marquis  there  plead 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


^vith  him  to  give  in,  but  he  was  firm.  Leaving  him  there,  prac- 
tically in  durance,  the  Harquis  returned  to  the  rest  of  the  Cab- 
inet, who  were  very  naturally  alarmed  at  the  non-appearance  of 
the  Prime  ^Minister.  The  moment  must  have  been  one  of  great 
suspense.  Hedged  in  by  anned  Japanese,  their  official  chief 
spirited  away  and  perhaps  hilled,  there  is  little  wonder  that 
another  turn  of  the  screw  resulted  in  the  defection  of  several 
of  the  Cabinet,  and  at  last  a paper  was  signed  by  a majority  of 
the  ministers  present,  after  a clause  had  been  added  to  the  effect 
that  at  some  future  day  when  Korea  is  strong  enough  and 
wealthy  enough  to  resmne  her  independence  it  will  be  given 
back  to  her.  The  Foreign  Minister  signed  this  document,  and 
tlie  seal  was  attached.  There  is  some  question  as  to  just  how 
this  last  was  done.  Some  say  that  the  seal  was  purloined  from 
the  office  by  Japanese  and  the  document  was  stamped  by  them. 
However  this  may  be.  we  have  here  the  picture  of  how  the 
agreement  was  put  through,  and  the  reader  and  the  world  may 
judge  for  themselves  how  far  it  was  voluntary  on  the  part  of  the 
Korean  goveniment. 

When  this  had  been  done,  the  Japanese  authorities  announced 
in  Washington  that  Korea  had  voluntarily  entered  into  an  agree- 
ment granting  Japan  a protectorate  over  the  country,  and  the 
-American  government,  apparently  without  consulting  with  Korea 
as  to  the  truth  of  the  statement,  recognised  the  validity  of 
Japan's  claim,  and  ahnost  immediately  removed  the  legation 
from  Seoul,  and  at  the  same  time  infonned  the  Korean  legation 
in  M'ashington  that  diplomatic  business  with  Korea  would  there- 
after be  carried  on  through  Tokyo.  The  petition  of  the  Emperor 
arrived  in  M'ashington  before  action  had  been  taken  by  the  gov- 
ernment, but,  though  its  arrival  had  been  announced  to  the 
President,  it  was  not  received  until  after  action  had  been  taken, 
when  it  was  found  to  be  too  late.  It  is  not  our  province  to 
discuss  here  the  question  whether  this  action  was  in  accord  with 
tlie  friendly  relations  that  existed  for  so  many  years  between 
Korea  and  .America,  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  whatever  that 


MIN  YONG  WHAN,  PRINCE  AND  GENERAL 

Who  committed  suicide  in  November,  1905,  as  a protest  against  the 
destruction  of  Korean  independence  by  Japan 


! 


THE  JAPANESE  IN  KOREA 


2^3 


the  Koreans  looked  upon  it  as  a distinct  act  of  treachery.  Even 
while  the  whole  Korean  people  were  convulsed  by  the  high- 
handed act  of  Japan,  and  some  of  the  very  highest  Korean 
officials  were  seeking  oblivion  of  their  country’s  wrongs  in  sui- 
cide, the  American  Minister  in  Seoul  was  feasting  the  Japanese 
who  had  compassed  the  destruction  of  Korean  nationality.  Can 
it  be  wondei'ed  at  that  the  feeling  of  confidence  which  Korea 
reposed  in  the  friendship  of  America  should  have  experienced  a 
sudden  and  sharp  reaction.  Americans-©f-every  class  had  been 
telling  Korea  for  a quarter  of  a century  that  the  American  flag 
stood  for  fairness  and,  honesty,  .that  we  had  no  purely  selfish 
interests  to  subserve,  but  stood  for  right,  whether  that  right  was 
accompanied  by  might  or  noH  but  wEen  the  pinch  came  we 
were  the  first  to  desert  her,  and  that  in  the  most  contemptuous 
way,  without  even  saying  good-bye. 

The  appeal  of  the  Emperor  to  the  President  of  the  United 
States  cited  the  fact  that  Korea  has  heretofore  received  many 
tokens  of  good-will  from  the  American  government  and  people, 
that  the  American  representatives  have  been  sympathetic  and 
helpful,  and  that  American  teachers  of  all  kinds  have  done  valu- 
able work.  He  granted  that  the  government  had  not  been  what 
it  should  have  been,  and  that  many  mistakes  had  been  com- 
mitted, but  he  urged  that  whatever  the  Korean  people  might 
think  of  their  government,  they  were  passionately  attached  to 
the  real  Korea,  to  their  nationality ; that  they  had  few  things  to 
be  proud  of,  and  that  if  their  nationality  and  independence, 
which  had  been  guaranteed  by  Japan,  were  swept  away,  there 
would  be  left  no  incentive  for  the  people  to  advance.  He  ac- 
knowledged the  need  of  Japanese  supervision,  and  declared  that 
the  advice  of  Japan  had  been  and  would  be  followed  along  all 
lines  that  looked  toward  the  betterment  of  conditions  in  the 
peninsula.  He  intimated  that  the  acts  committed  by  the  Japa- 
nese during  the  past  year  did  not  warrant  the  giving  to  Japan 
of  complete  control  in  Korea,  for  it  would  make  Japanese  resi- 
dents there  all  the  more  contemptuous  of  the  private  rights  of 


224 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


Koreans.  He  urged  that  Japan  would  be  doing  herself  an  in- 
jury, in  breaking  her  promise  to  preserve  the  independence  of 
Korea,  for  it  would  make  other  powers  rightly  suspicious  of 
Japan’s  good  faith  elsewhere  in  the  Far  East.  In  conclusion, 
he  asked  the  President  to  bring  to  bear  upon  this  question  the 
same  breadth  of  view  and  the  same  sympathy  which  had  charac- 
terised his  distinguished  career  in  other  fields;  and  if,  after  a 
careful  investigation,  the  facts  above  enumerated  and  others  that 
would  come  to  light  should  seem  to  warrant  him  in  so  doing,  he 
should  use  his  friendly  offices  to  prevent  the  disaster  to  Korea 
which  seemed  imminent.  It  will  be  noted  that  the  Emperor 
asked  that  the  President’s  action  be  based  upon  a careful  exami- 
nation of  all  the  facts,  and  not  upon  mere  hearsay.  Whether 
Korea’s  side  of  the  question  was  ever  presented  in  detail  to  the 
American  Executive  may  never  be  known,  but  the  method  of 
procedure  adopted  by  the  United  States  government  does  not 
warrant  such  a conclusion. 

When  future  historians,  looking  back  across  the  years,  shall 
view  with  dispassionate  eyes  the  contemptuous  attitude  and  the 
precipitate  action  of  the  American  government  in  this  case  which 
involves  the  very  life  of  the  Korean  nation,  they  will  scarcely 
be  able  to  so  word  the  facts  as  to  bring  added  glory  to  the 
annals  of  the  American  people. 

Min  Yong-whan,  the  most  cultured  and  public-spirited  Ori- 
ental in  the  range  of  my  acquaintance,  after  desperate  efforts 
to  secvwe  a reversal  of  the  forced  action  depriving  Korea  of  her 
independence,  committed  suicide.  His  monument,  and  that  of 
other  patriots  who  followed  his  example,  will  ever  stand  before 
the  Korean  people  as  irrefragable  proof  that,  whatever  interested 
calumniators  may  say,  it  is  as  true  in  Korea  as  elsewhere  that 
dnlcit  pro  pafria  inori. 


CHAPTER  XV 


REVENUE 

The  revenue  of  the  Korean  government  is  derived  from 
a dozen  or  more  different  sources,  among  the  most 
important  of  which  are  (i)  land  tax,  (2)  house  tax, 
(3)  salt  tax,  (4)  customs  duties,  (5)  ginseng  monop- 
oly,  (6)  gold  mines,  (7)  fish  tax,  (8)  fur  tax,  (9)  tobacco  tax, 
(10)  gate  tax,  (ii)  forests,  (12)  guilds,  (13)  licenses,  (14) 
minting,  (15)  poll  tax,  (16)  boat  tax,  (17)  cow-hide  tax,  (18) 
paper  tax,  (19)  pawn  tax.  These  include  forms  of  taxation 
which  are  now  obsolete  as  well  as  those  actually  in  force. 

The  prefect  of  each  of  the  three  hundred  and  forty-one  dis- 
tricts in  Korea  is  supposed  to  have  in  his  office  a map  and  a 
detailed  description  of  every  piece  of  arable  land  in  the  district, 
excepting  kitchen-gardens.  This  forms  the  basis  of  the  land 
tax,  which  yields  two-thirds  of  the  national  revenue.  Although 
there  are  no  fences,  the  limits  of  the  fields  are  clearly  marked 
by  earthen  banks  or  by  the  natural  conformation  of  the  land, 
and  no  farmer  would  dare  to  throw  two  fields  together  or  divide 
a field  into  two  without  the  cognisance  and  consent  of  the  local 
prefect;  and  even  then  the  latter  would  have  to  obtain  per- 
mission from  the  central  government.  This  arable  land  is  con- 
sidered under  two  heads,  — rice-fields  and  ordinary  fields.  The 
owner  of  each  plot  of  land  owns  a deed  for  the  same,  stamped 
with  the-  magistrate’s  seal  or  signed  with  his  name.  In  many 
instances  where  property  has  been  in  the  same  family  for  several 
centuries,  these  deeds  may  have  been  lost  or  destroyed;  but  if 
the  land  is  sold,  new  deeds  must  be  issued.  The  prefect’s  records, 
as  well  as  the  deed  of  each  field,  indicate  the  relative  grade  of  the 
latter.  There  are  six  grades  of  rice-fields  and  three  of  ordinary 


226 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


fields.  These  grades  are  determined  by  several  factors,  — the 
natural  fertility  of  the  soil,  the  ability  to  irrigate,  the  roughness 
or  smoothness  of  the  topography,  and  the  lay  of  the  land;  for 
if  it  slopes  toward  the  north  it  is  considered  much  less  valuable 
than  if  it  slopes  toward  the  south. 

New  fields  are  constantly  being  made,  which  for  a few  years 
are  not  shown  on  the  prefect’s  records  and  do  not  pay  taxes  to 
the  government.  For  this  reason  the  authorities  periodically 
order  a remeasurement  of  arable  land,  or  rather  a readjustment 
of  the  prefectural  records,  so  as  to  include  the  new  fields.  There 
is  no  definite  interval  of  time  between  these  readjustments. 
Sometimes  half  a century  passes  without  one,  and  then  again  they 
may  follow  each  other  by  an  interval  of  only  a few  years. 
Korean  history  shows  that  with  the  beginning  of  each  new  reign, 
or  the  inauguration  of  a new  government  policy,  or  under  stress 
of  some  national  calamity  which  has  emptied  the  treasury,  a 
readjustment  of  land  values  is  likely  to  be  ordered.  A royal 
commission  goes  about  and  examines  the  new  fields  and  estimates 
their  value,  noting  carefully  all  the  conditions  above  enumerated. 
They  do  not  actually  measure  the  land,  but  they  find  out  how 
long  it  will  take  to  plough  it  with  a single  bullock,  and  how 
much  seed  grain  it  requires  to  plant.  By  these  means  they  esti- 
mate how  many  kynil  there  are  in  the  field.  Now  a kyiiJ  is  one 
hundred  man-loads  of  unthreshed  rice,  and  each  man-load  is  com- 
posed of  ten  sheaves.  Ten  per  cent  is  the  legal  rate,  and  so  a 
field  of  thirty  kyul  would  yield  the  government  three  kyid.  This 
again  must  be  reduced  to  threshed  rice  in  the  bag,  as  that  is  the 
form  in  which,  until  very  recently,  the  tax  has  been  paid.  It 
was  a very  clumsy  arrangement. 

The  status  of  a field  being  once  definitely  settled,  it  is  put 
down  on  the  books  as  being  liable  to  a definite  amount  of  taxa- 
tion each  year,  and  this  tax  is  due  whether  the  year  is  a good  or 
a bad  one,  whether  the  field  is  tilled  or  left  fallow.  It  is  only 
by  a special  dispensation  of  the  central  government  that  the  tax 
on  a single  field  can  be  remitted,  whatever  be  the  disabilities 


THE  KOREAN  FARMER 

Showing  methods  of  ploughing  the  soil  and  threshing  of  grain 


, 

I 


V 

'•  f ' 

V 


t'  ’■ 

s::‘A 


'‘JiX 


REVENUE 


227 


under  which  the  owner  or  tenant  may  be  labouring.  In  other 
words,  the  government  takes  no  chances.  And  yet  it  may  be 
that  when  we  take  into  account  the  great  infrequency  of  serious 
famines  in  Korea,  this  system  is  the  best  for  the  farmer;  for 
were  the  regular  tax  the  only  charge  on  the  field  there  would  be 
every  incentive  to  cultivate  the  soil  with  care,  to  fertilise  it 
heavily,  and  to  make  it  produce  the  very  most  of  which  it  is 
capable.  As  a fact,  however,  the  farmer  is  frequently  subjected 
to  further  imposts  which,  though  illegal,  are  unavoidable  under 
a system  which  gives  officials  no  opportunity  to  gain  a compe- 
tence except  by  indirection. 

Rice  being  the  staple  article  of  food,  it  naturally  forms  the 
measure  of  value.  Until  very  recently  the  farmer  had  to  pay 
all  his  taxes  in  rice,  and  therefore  was  obliged  to  barter  bis 
barley,  millet  or  beans  in  order  to  obtain  the  wherewithal  to  settle 
his  debts  to  the  government.  To-day  all  taxes  are  collected  in 
money.  This  simplifies  taxation  in  one  sense,  but  in  another 
sense  it  complicates  matters,  as  we  shall  see.  The  tax  is  ten 
Korean  dollars  a kytil. 

Such  is  the  law  in  regard  to  the  land  tax,  but  there  are  great 
discrepancies  in  its  operation  and  administration.  The  prefect 
and  all  his  underlings  receive  a nominal  salary,  which  is  annu- 
ally deducted  from  the  tax  money  or  rice  which  is  to  be  sent 
up  to  Seoul,  but  it  is  notorious  that  this  salary  is  insufficient 
and  that  it  is  supplemented  by  various  means.  As  these  are  an 
actual  charge  upon  the  productive  portion  of  the  population,  they 
require  mention.  The  amount  of  special  taxation  depends  upon 
the  personal  character  of  the  prefect  and  his  deputies,  the  ajiins, 
and  we  can  indicate  only  the  general  lines  upon  which  it  is  levied. 
W have  already  seen  that  the  tax  is  levied  on  the  estimated 
average  yield  of  the  land.  Now,  if  this  average  yield  is  exceeded 
in  a year  of  plenty  or  through  unusual  thrift  on  the  part  of  the 
farmer,  a portion  of  the  overplus  or  increment  is  commonly 
appropriated  by  the  a juris,  who  share  it  Avith  their  chief;  but  it 
all  depends  upon  the  status  of  the  oAvner  of  the  field.  If  he  be 


228 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


a country  gentleman  who  has  influence  at  Seoul,  the  ajiins  may 
not  dare  to  take  even  the  legal  rate  of  tax.  If  he  has  slightly 
less  influence,  he  may  pay  the  legal  tax  on  good  years  but  less  in 
years  of  scarcity.  If  he  has  no  influence,  he  may  pay  the  legal 
tax  but  nothing  extra,  in  case  of  overplus.  It  is  the  common 
farmer  who  has  practically  no  rights  in  the  case  and  must  always 
pay  in  full,  and  whatever  proportion  of  the  overplus  the  ajuns 
may  require ; or  if  there  be  no  overplus,  he  may  still  have  to  give 
up  part  of  the  nine-tenths  remaining  after  his  legal  tax  is  paid. 
No  fields  within  the  walls  of  Seoul  are  subject  to  taxation.  The 
annual  amount  received  from  the  land  tax  by  the  govermnent 
is  in  the  neighbourhood  of  eight  million  Korean  dollars;  but 
exchange  varies  so  much  that  this  may  mean  anywhere  from 
two  million  to  three  million  in  American  currency.  The  lack  of 
an  adequate  currency  in  the  country  districts  makes  it  difficult  for 
the  farmers  to  pay  their  taxes  in  money,  and  so  they  often  turn 
over  their  rice  to  the  ajiins,  who  act  as  agents  for  its  sale. 
These  ajims  are  not  there  for  their  health  merely,  and  this  form 
of  trade  is  one  of  their  handsomest  perquisites. 

With  the  exception  of  Seoul  and  its  western  and  southern 
suburbs,  every  house  in  Korea  is  subject  to  a tax  of  fifteen  hun- 
dred Seoul  cash,  or  sixty  cents,  irrespective  of  the  size  or  quality 
of  the  structure.  The  annual  amount  collected  from  this  source 
is  about  half  a million  dollars.  At  sixty  cents  a house,  this  would 
mean  something  less  than  a million  houses;  and  reckoning  five 
people  to  the  house,  we  should  have  only  five  millions  as  the 
population.  Of  course  this  is  an  absurdly  low  estimate,  and  the 
conclusion  is  inevitable,  either  that  all  the  houses  are  not  taxed 
or  that  there  is  a serious  leakage  in  transit,  ^^dren  a new  house 
is  built,  the  magistrate  gives  a deed  for  it,  and  from  that  time  it 
is  supposed  to  be  on  the  tax  list.  When  a house  burns  or  is 
swept  away  by  a flood,  the  tax  is  always  remitted. 

All  salt  is  made  by  evaporating  sea-water ; and  the  “ works  ” 
are  so  easily  accessible  and  salt  is  such  an  indispensable  com- 
modity that  this  government,  like  most  oriental  ones,  finds  it 


REVENUE 


229 


a reliable  and  lucrative  source  of  revenue.  The  tax  is  levied 
on  the  actual  amount  produced,  and  amounts  to  about  four  per 
cent  ad  valorem.  This  seems  small  compared  with  the  ten  per 
cent  levied  on  cereals,  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  in  the  case 
of  the  latter  nature  does  by  far  the  larger  part  of  the  work.  The 
evaporation  of  salt  is  exceedingly  laborious.  The  apparatus  is 
costly,  considering  the  annual  output,  the  cost  of  fuel  is  heavy, 
and  the  goods  are  marketed  only  in  spring  and  autumn.  For 
these  reasons  a heavier  tax  than  four  per  cent  would  kill  the 
business.  This  tax  brings  about  ninety  thousand  dollars  into  the 
treasury. 

Ginseng  is  one  of  the  most  distinctive  products  of  Korea. 
The  Chinese,  who  are  its  principal  purchasers,  consider  the 
Korean  red  ginseng  the  best  on  the  market.  The  culture  and 
preparation  of  this  root  is  a government  monopoly,  and  it  is 
carried  on  in  two  ways.  The  government  owns  certain  ginseng 
farms,  and  carries  them  on  through  skilled  agents,  but  more 
often  it  gives  licenses  to  responsible  parties  who  turn  over  the 
entire  crop  to  the  government.  After  the  latter  has  marketed  the 
goods  in  China  it  deducts  its  own  twenty  or  twenty-five  per 
cent  and  turns  the  rest  over  to  the  tenant  of  the  farm.  The 
annual  income  from  this  source  varies  from  one  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  to  three  hundred  thousand  Korean  dollars. 

All  minerals  are  supposed  to  belong  to  the  government,  and 
no  man  has  a right  to  open  a mine  even  on  his  own  ground 
without  special  permission  from  the  Department  of  Agriculture, 
Commerce  and  Public  Works  at  Seoul.  If  a man  wants  to  mine 
gold  (and  by  far  the  greater  part  is  of  the  placer  variety),  he 
applies  at  the  bureau  at  Seoul,  and  if  he  has  influence  enough  he 
will  succeed  in  buying  a license  to  open  a placer  mine  in  a certain 
specified  locality.  For  this  he  pays  a round  sum,  though  it  may 
not  come  within  the  purview  of  the  law.  After  opening  the  mine 
he  will  be  called  upon  to  pay  over  to  the  agents  of  the  govern- 
ment probably  sixty  per  cent  of  his  gross  earnings.  The  rate 
differs  with  different  circumstances,  but  at  the  lowest  it  is  enor- 


230 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


mously  high.  The  idea  seems  to  be  that  as  he  is  working  gov- 
ernment property  he  must  divide  the  proceeds,  just  as  a farmer 
often  does  when  he  Avorks  another  man’s  land.  The  annual 
revenue  from  this  source  is  subject  to  great  fluctuations.  Some- 
times it  rises  to  nearly  half  a million,  and  then  it  may  drop  to 
a hundred  thousand. 

Copper  mining  is  a considerable  industry  in  Korea ; but  as 
the  profits  are  relatively  smaller  than  those  of  gold  mining,  the 
government  takes  only  thirty  per  cent  of  the  proceeds,  or,  more 
exactly,  five  ounces  out  of  every  sixteen.  It  is  difficult  to  get  at 
the  figures  to  show  what  revenue  is  derived  from  this  source. 
There  are  a number  of  iron  mines,  but  they  are  carried  on  in  only 
a small  way  comparatively.  The  government  receives  a tax  of 
about  nine  per  cent  of  the  gross  output.  There  are  said  to  be  over 
fifty  iron  mines  in  the  peninsula,  mostly  in  Kang-wun  Province, 
east  of  Seoul. 

Korean  fisheries  annually  render  a neat  sum  to  the  national 
exchequer.  The  tax  is  levied  not  on  the  amount  of  fish  caught 
but  upon  the  boats  themselves.  These  are  of  about  ten  grades, 
according  to  the  number  of  the  crew  and  the  size  of  the  nets. 
Such  is  the  law,  but  it  must  be  confessed  that  when  the  money  is 
actually  collected  cognisance  is  taken  of  the  amount  of  fish 
caught,  and  the  amount  of  money  paid  bears  no  special  relation 
to  the  sum  received  by  the  central  government.  The  Korean 
government  possesses  no  na^y,  but  from  time  immemorial  it  has 
owned  a large  number  of  boats  along  the  coast,  which  are  sup- 
posed to  be  ready  for  use  in  time  of  war.  These  are  regularly 
let  out  to  fishermen,  and  the  revenue  from  them  is  naturally 
much  larger  than  from  the  native-owned  craft.  Of  late  years 
these  boats  have  been  sold  in  considerable  numbers  to  the  fisher- 
men, but  so  far  as  we  can  learn  the  proceeds  have  not  sufficed  to 
put  the  Korean  navy  on  a firm  footing! 

Furs  have  always  been  an  important  product  of  Korea,  and 
have  frequently  figured  in  the  tribute  to  China,  and  in  indem- 
nities paid  to  Chinese,  Manchu  or  Mongol.  They  have  been 


REVENUE 


231 


considered  as  a sort  of  government  monopoly,  and  gangs  of 
trappers  have  been  regularly  sent  out  by  the  authorities,  the 
entire  catch  being  taken  by  the  government  and  paid  for.  If 
other  people  take  furs,  especially  sea-otter,  sable,  tiger  or  leopard, 
the  rule  is  to  carry  them  to  the  nearest  prefect,  who  is  sure  ta 
buy  them  in  for  the  government.  Within  the  last  few  months 
a Korean  in  Whang-hai  Province  got  into  serious  trouble  because 
he  carried  a tiger  skin  directly  to  Chemulpo,  and  sold  it  to  a for- 
eigner rather  than  offer  it  first  to  the  prefect.  The  foreigner 
doubtless  paid  him  six  times  as  much  as  the  prefect  would  have 
given.  The  method  adopted  makes  it  quite  impossible  to  estimate 
the  amount  annually  received,  as  it  never  appears  in  the  columns 
of  dollars  and  cents. 

All  merchant  craft  are  subject  to  a tax  which  is  levied  upon 
their  carrying  capacity.  About  three  cash  per  bag  is  collected 
at  the  port  of  entry.  This  is  only  a small  fraction  of  one  per 
cent.  Before  the  days  when  government  taxes  were  payable  in 
money,  these  boats  often  paid  by  bringing  government  rice  up 
to  the  capital,  just  as  in  rural  districts  in  America  farmers 
“ work  out  ” their  taxes  on  the  road. 

The  forests  of  Korea  are  considered  crown  lands,  and  no 
one  can  cut  timber  without  special  permission.  The  tax  is  paid 
in  kind  and  amounts  to  three  per  cent  of  the  product.  Cow- 
hides, in  which  the  trade  is  considerable,  form  a special  source 
of  revenue;  the  hides  are  graded  into  three  classes  and  pay  a 
tax  of  twenty,  sixteen  and  twelve  cents  apiece,  respectively.  The 
various  guilds  of  Seoul,  of  which  we  shall  speak  at  length  in 
another  place,  pay  no  regular  taxes,  but  they  are  frequently  called 
upon  to  help  in  various  forms  of  government  works.  Sometimes 
they  are  required  to  repair  a road  over  which  a royal  procession 
is  to  pass ; and  in  case  of  a royal  funeral  or  marriage,  each  guild 
is  supposed  to  supply  a gorgeous  banner  to  be  carried  in  the 
procession,  and  the  members  of  the  guilds  are  called  upon  to  act 
as  bearers  of  the  catafalque  of  the  dead. 

Up  to  the  time  of  the  China-Japan  war  every  man  was 


232 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


obliged  to  carry  on  his  person  a small  piece  of  wood  on  which 
were  written  his  name,  the  year  of  his  birth  and  his  rank.  Any- 
one who  failed  to  carry  this  tag  was  considered  an  outlaw.  It 
was  called  the  “ name-tag.”  Every  two  or  three  years,  or  every 
year  in  which  a great  national  examination  was  held,  all  these 
tags  were  changed  or  renewed.  Each  bore  the  stamp  of  the 
mayor  of  Seoul  or  of  the  country  prefect,  and  the  application  of 
this  stamp  cost  the  sum  of  five  country  cash.  This  was  a sort 
of  poll  tax,  but  was  discontinued  when  the  use  of  the  name-tag 
was  abolished. 

There  never  has  been  a tax  upon  spirituous  liquors,  nor  any 
license  required  for  their  sale.  In  country  districts  there  is  a 
slight  tax  on  the  malt  used  in  making  beer.  This  is  made  of 
barley  and  comes  in  the  form  of  round  cakes.  The  tax  on  each 
cake  is  one  cash. 

Besides  these  regular  taxes,  the  government  sells  licenses  for 
a large  number  of  industries.  These  are  not  all  worthy  of  men- 
tion, but  among  them  we  find  the  pawn-shop  license,  which 
amounts  to  two  dollars  a month  in  the  case  of  large  shops.  The 
cutting  of  firewood  in  government  preserves  is  carried  on  under 
license. 

It  must  not  be  imagined  that  these  are  the  only  sources  of 
income.  There  is  another  long  list  of  “ donations  ” to  the  palace. 
These  are  not  actual  taxes,  and  yet  they  are  so  fixed  in  Korean 
custom  that  they  amount  to  the  same  thing,  and  their  discon- 
tinuance would  be  the  signal  for  an  instant  and  searching  investi- 
gation. These  donations  take  the  form  of  fruits  and  vegetables. 
Certain  districts  are  noted  for  the  production  of  particular  kinds 
and  superior  qualities  of  fruits  and  vegetables.  For  instance, 
the  Pongsan  pears,  Namyang  persimmons,  Sunchun  walnuts, 
Poeun  jujubes,  Kwangju  tobacco  and  Kuchang  turnips  are  the 
best  in  the  country.  The  growers  annually  send  up  the  best 
selection  of  their  products  for  use  by  the  imperial  household. 
The  amount  is  not  regulated  by  law,  but  the  prefect  is  sure  to  see 
to  it  that  the  quantity  and  quality  of  these  gifts  do  not  fall  far 


REVENUE 


233 


below  the  limit  established  by  custom.  A failure  to  attend  to 
this  matter  would  soon  get  him  into  trouble. 

Several  kinds  of  sea  products  are  also  sent  up,  such  as  edible 
sea-weed,  beche-de-mer,  dried  clams,  pearls,  cuttle-fish,  cod  and 
other  denizens  of  the  deep ; among  industrial  products,  linen  and 
cotton  cloth,  fans,  screens,  mats,  tables,  cabinets,  pipes,  paper, 
human  hair,  silk,  furs,  horses,  hats,  head-bands,  pens,  ink, 
candles,  grass-cloth,  tiger  skins,  deer  horns,  mountain  ginseng, 
game,  honey,  ginger,  crockery  and  porcelain,  medicines,  embroi- 
deries, cranes,  musical  instruments  and  coral.  These  are  a few  of 
the  varieties. 

The  most  reliable  source  of  income  is  the  Maritime  Customs, 
and  it  forms  the  only  asset  that  the  government  can  use  as  col- 
lateral for  the  purpose  of  making  loans.  Up  to  the  early  eighties 
there  was  no  such  institution,  but  in  1882  the  government 
requested  that  the  Chinese  Customs  send  a man  to  open  up  a 
service  in  Korea.  P.  G.  von  Mollendorff,  Esq.,  was  sent,  and 
with  him  a considerable  staff  of  foreigners.  The  service  was 
established  on  lines  similar  to  those  in  China,  but  after  a few 
years  Mr.  Von  Mollendorff  resigned,  and  the  service  came  more 
directly  under  the  Chinese  control.  From  the  very  first  it  was 
a decided  success,  one  of  the  very  few  that  Korea  has  achieved 
along  financial  lines ; and  under  the  admirable  management  of 
J.  McLeavy  Brown,  C.  M.  G.,  it  has  formed  an  anchor  to  wind- 
ward that  has  helped  the  government  ride  out  many  a storm,  not 
merely  financial  but  political  as  well.  The  subject  of  imports 
and  exports  will  be  mentioned  elsewhere,  but  under  the  head  of 
revenue  it  will  suffice  to  say  that,  according  to  the  latest  reports, 
the  gross  value  of  a year’s  trade  is  approximately  fifty  million 
yen  or  twenty-five  million  dollars,  on  practically  all  of  which  a 
small  import  or  export  duty  is  imposed. 


CHAPTER  XVI 


THE  CURRENCY 

WE  may  safely  say  that  before  the  days  of  Kija, 
1122  B.  c.,  the  Koreans  had  no  money.  All  trade 
was  done  by  barter.  Kija  probably  brought  with 
him  from  China  a quantity  of  the  coins  in  circu- 
lation there.  Just  what  these  were  we  do  not  know,  but  they 
may  have  been  the  peculiar  “ knife  coins  ” that  are  found  to-day 
in  every  good  numismatic  collection.  There  is  good  evidence 
from  Korean  literature  that  Kija  put  out  a form  of  government 
bank  note  in  the  shape  of  a square  piece  of  linen  with  his  own 
seal  upon  it.  These  were  nominally  redeemable,  but  practically 
they  could  not  have  been  so,  if  they  were  used  to  any  great  ex- 
tent, for  Kija  could  not  have  brought  enough  of  the  coins  from 
China  to  redeem  any  considerable  amount  of  “ paper  ” money. 

In  the  days  of  Silla,  57  b.  C.-918  a.  d.,  there  was  a consid- 
erable mixture  of  Chinese,  the  descendants  of  people  who  had 
fled  from  China  at  the  time  the  Great  W^all  was  built.  These 
people  doubtless  taught  the  southern  Koreans  the  value  of  a 
coinage.  The  earliest  Silla  coins  are  said  to  have  been  octagonal 
in  shape  with  a hole  in  the  centre.  Another  was  the  “ Star 
Money,”  which  bore  the  impress  of  two  stars  on  one  side  and 
the  legend  “ Heaven-sanctioned  Eastern  Treasure  ” on  the  other. 
The  “ Boy-child  ” coin  was  in  the  shape  of  the  Siamese  twins, 
and  it  bore  the  inscription  “ From  Childhood  to  iManhood,” 
referring  to  the  fact  that  it  is  necessary  at  all  stages  of  life. 
There  was  also  the  “ Dragon  Coin,”  the  “ Tortoise  Coin  ” and 
the  “ Seven  Star  Money.”  The  latter  has  a representation  of 
the  constellation  of  the  Great  Bear,  and  the  flattering  inscrip- 
tion “As  faithful  as  the  Stars.”  In  Koryu  days  again,  918- 


THE  CURRENCY 


235 


1392,  there  was  an  issue  of  “ linen  money,”  which  went  under 
the  name  “ Dirty  Linen  ” ; not  a nice  name  for  such  a nice  thing 
as  money.  It  was  in  the  latter  days  of  that  dynasty  that  a 
regular  issue  of  “ cash  ” was  made,  similar  to  the  cash  used 
to-day.  A silver  coin  in  the  shape  of  a bottle  was  also  put  out, 
but  it  was  soon  debased  by  admixture  of  copper,  zinc  and  other 
baser  metals,  and  so  fell  into  disrepute.  During  the  long  years 
of  Mongol  supremacy  the  currency  of  that  empire  circulated 
freely  in  Korea,  but  all  this  came  to  an  end  about  the  middle 
of  the  fourteenth  century. 

After  the  founding  of  the  present  dynasty  in  1392  the  old 
silver,  copper  and  linen  money  was  continued  in  circulation,  but 
after  a time  the  government  issued  the  famous  yiipjiin,  or  “ Leaf 
Aloney,”  which  has  held  its  own  in  the  country  districts  until 
the  present  day  with  an  obstinacy  that  is  worthy  of  a better 
■cause.  During  the  past  fifty  years  all  sorts  of  tricks  have  been 
played  with  Korean  coinage,  and  the  government  has  realised 
heavy  sums  by  minting,  but  of  course  no  government  can  make 
money  by  coining  it.  The  intrinsic  value  and  the  cost  of  making 
should  equal  the  face  value ; but  they  cared  nothing  for  this, 
and  time  and  again  new  issues  were  forced  on  the  people,  only 
to  fall  to  twenty  per  cent  of  their  face  value.  The  provinces 
would  have  none  of  this,  but  it  circulated  in  and  near  Seoul. 
A rather  pretty  silver  coin  was  issued  in  the  eighties.  It  had 
a blue  enamel  centre.  It  was  all  bought  up  and  hoarded  within 
two  years.  The  same  happened  to  another  silver  coinage  of  a 
later  date.  At  last  the  government  unfortunately  took  up  the 
nickel  five-cent  piece.  The  trouble  with  this  coin  was  that  it 
was  of  low  enough  denomination  to  be  useful  as  circulating 
medium,  but  at  the  same  time  of  enough  value  to  be  worth 
w-hile  counterfeiting.  The  cash  had  been  so  infinitesimal  in 
value,  and  the  plant  necessarily  so  large  for  making  it,  that  no 
one  could  afford  to  counterfeit  it.  But  as  soon  as  the  nickel 
took  the  field  an  army  of  counterfeiters  sprang  up.  The  Jap- 
anese supplied  the  necessary  machinery  and  smuggled  it  into 


236 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


the  country,  and  at  the  same  time  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dol- 
lars worth  of  the  stuff  was  turned  out  in  Japan  and  brought  over 
to  Korea.  This  was  a great  injury  to  Koreans  and  also  to 
legitimate  Japanese  trade,  for  the  nickels  fell  and  fell,  until  at 
one  time  they  were  at  a discount  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  per 
cent.  Both  the  Korean  and  Japanese  governments  made  strenu- 
ous efforts  to  put  a stop  to  this  demoralisation,  but  so  long  as 
the  Korean  government  continued  to  put  out  coins  with  a face 
value  of  five  cents,  and  an  intrinsic  value  of  only  one  and  a half 
cents,  they  found  it  impossible  to  compete  with  the  counterfeiters, 
and  the  two  went  along  side  by  side  until  a dozen  or  so  of  the 
latter  were  executed,  and  then  it  became  too  serious  a matter, 
and  the  counterfeiters  suspended  operations. 

Only  the  oldest  foreign  residents  of  Seoul  will  remember 
the  great  mat  sheds  which  were  erected  from  time  to  time  and 
in  which  the  old-time  cash  was  minted.  The  smelting  furnaces 
were  mere  holes  in  the  ground,  and  the  naked  operatives  stood 
astride  of  the  glowing  orifices  and  reached  down  with  long 
tongues  and  seized  the  edges  of  the  crucibles  that  held  the 
molten  metal.  At  night,  when  there  was  no  other  light  but  that 
which  escaped  from  the  furnace  mouths  and  lit  the  rough  in- 
terior of  the  shed  with  a livid,  greenish  glow,  it  was  a picture 
straight  from  Dante's  Inferno.  The  metal  was  poured  into 
moulds  which  contained  some  fifty  impressions  of  the  pattern, 
and  when  the  casting  came  out  it  looked  like  rough  lace,  the 
coins  all  being  connected  by  narrow  bars  of  metal.  These  were 
broken  up,  and  the  coins  were  strung  on  square  metal  rods  that 
just  fitted  the  hole  in  the  coin.  The  ends  of  this  rod  were  then 
put  in  a rude  vice,  and  men  with  enomious  coarse  files  ground 
down  the  edges  of  a thousand  or  more  of  the  coins  at  a time. 
It  was  exceedingly  rough  work,  and  it  was  done  just  as  cheaply 
as  it  could  be  done  and  still  pass  the  very  superficial  examina- 
tion that  it  would  be  subjected  to.  After  having  their  edges 
filed,  the  coins  were  dumped  into  a shallow  trough  set  in  the 
ground,  and  sand  and  water  were  added.  Two  men  sat  down 


THE  CURRENCY 


237 


on  the  ground  at  opposite  ends  of  this  trough  and  pushed  the 
coins  back  and  forth  with  their  bare  feet.  This  was  the  final 
polish.  The  only  thing  left  to  do  was  to  string  the  wretched 
things  on  rough  straw  rope  or  string,  making  a knot  between 
every  hundred  pieces.  When  finished,  the  strings  looked  not 
unlike  festoons  of  link  sausages,  though  perhaps  a trifle  less 
digestible.  In  four-fifths  of  the  country  this  is  still  the  only 
currency  that  is  accepted.  One  wonders  how  any  large  trans- 
actions can  be  carried  on  with  such  extremely  awkward  money. 
A horse-load  of  it  would  not  come  to  more  than  fifteen  dollars 
in  gold.  I have  estimated  roughly  that  the  mere  transfer  of 
money  costs  on  an  average  one-tenth  of  one  per  cent  of  every 
monetary  transaction. 

There  is  no  such  thing  as  a genuine  bank  in  Korea,  and  yet 
the  people  have  certain  expedients  by  which  they  avoid  in  part 
the  transportation  of  actual  cash  from  one  part  of  the  land  to 
another.  There  are  certain  large  firms  or  guilds  in  Seoul  whose 
notes  of  hand  are  accepted  quite  generally,  and  a certain  crude 
method  of  exchange  has  been  common.  A merchant  in  the 
country  may  take  the  money  which  the  prefect  desires  to  trans- 
mit to  the  government  treasury  and  buy  merchandise  with  it, 
bring  it  up  to  Seoul  and  out  of  the  proceeds  pay  over  to  the 
treasury  the  amount  originally  received.  At  certain  seasons  of 
the  year  it  is  necessary  to  send  large  sums  of  money  to  the 
country  to  pay  for  the  barley,  rice  and  a thousand  other  things 
that  are  required  by  the  people  of  the  metropolis.  The  mer- 
chants who  have  this  in  hand  will  therefore  pay  over  to  the 
treasury  a certain  amount  of  cash  and  receive  an  order  on  some 
country  prefect  who  is  waiting  for  a chance  to  send  up  the  annual 
taxes  to  the  capital.  The  order  is  honoured  by  him,  and  so  both 
parties  gain  by  the  transaction.  The  taxes  that  the  people  have 
paid  to  their  prefect  come  back  to  them  in  large  measure  by  the 
sale  of  their  produce.  This  custom  is  of  comparatively  recent 
origin,  for  in  former  times  and  for  centuries  the  taxes  were 
all  payable  in  rice  or  other  grain. 


238 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


From  time  immemorial  barter  has  been  the  principal  method 
of  trade,  and  to  a very  large  extent  the  same  may  be  said  to-day. 
In  many  parts  of  Korea  money  is  a sort  of  luxury  that,  while 
pleasant  to  have,  is  by  no  means  essential  to  comfort.  In  the 
capital,  the  open  ports  and  some  of  the  more  important  inland 
towns  everything  is  secured  by  purchase,  but  this  includes  only 
a small  fraction  of  the  whole  population.  In  the  country  dis- 
tricts, for  the  most  part,  commodities  are  secured  at  periodical 
“ markets,”  called  chang  by  the  Koreans.  As  you  travel  through 
the  country  and  come  to  populous  villages,  you  wonder  where 
people  get  their  various  wares.  Do  they  make  them  all  them- 
selves? There  are  very  few  country  shops,  and  even  these  are 
of  the  most  trivial  kind.  It  is  when  you  happen  to  strike  a 
town  on  market  day  that  the  riddle  is  solved.  For  five  days 
the  place  seems  almost  deserted,  but  on  the  sixth  it  is  simply 
swarming  with  humanity.  Every  farmer  and  artisan  for  miles 
around  has  foregathered  at  this  point  to  exchange  his  wares  for 
those  of  someone  else.  All  day  long  it  is  one  scramble  to  see 
who  can  get  his  business  done  first,  so  that  an  early  start  can  be 
made  for  home,  or  so  that  there  may  be  leisure  to  do  a little 
gambling  or  gossiping.  The  wine  shops  are  running  at  full 
blast,  for  almost  e\'ery  important  bargain  is  consummated  over 
steaming  bowls  of  rice  wine.  Every  tongue  is  loosed,  and  to 
the  uninitiated  stranger  who  approaches  one  of  these  commer- 
'Cial  orgies  for  the  first  time,  and  when  it  is  at  its  height,  it 
seems  sure  that  a riot  is  going  on  or  that  a free  fight  is  in 
hilarious  progress.  It  is  like  five  hundred  exciting  auction  sales 
going  on  all  at  once,  or  like  a busy  day  on  'change.  Of  course 
much  money  changes  hands  on  these  occasions,  but  compara- 
tively little  of  it  leaves  the  town.  E^■ery  man  has  exchanged 
his  wares  for  those  of  another,  and  everyone  wends  his  way 
home,  happy  in  the  belief  that  he  has  made  a good  bargain.  He 
may  have  cause  to  change  his  mind  when  the  good  lady  of  his 
Iiouse  finds  what  he  has  bought. 

Koreans  learn  but  very  slowly  to  change  the  style  of  their 


THE  CURRENCY 


^39 


•medium  of  exchange.  In  the  capital  anything  “ goes,”  but  with 
the  people  at  large  the  utmost  conservatism  is  the  rule.  Even 
to  this  day  the  hundreds  of  Koreans  employed  at  the  American 
gold-mines  in  Unsan  district  refuse  to  touch  Japanese  paper 
money,  and  the  company  is  obliged  to  send  to  various  ports  of 
the  Ear  East  to  secure  silver  Japanese  dollars,  which  have  been 
withdrawn  from  circulation  in  Japan  itself  and  are  at  a con- 
siderable discount  everywhere.  The  Korean  likes  these  because 
the  value  is  intrinsic  and  does  not  depend  upon  any  promise,  no 
matter  how  solvent  the  government  may  be  that  backs  the  bills. 
He  has  had  too  much  to  do  with  governments  to  accept  any  such 
flimsy  money  as  that!  An  amusing  story  is  told  of  the  unso- 
phisticated Korean  of  the  early  eighties.  In  1882,  when  the 
Japanese  legation  was  burned  and  all  its  inmates  were  killed  or 
else  found  safety  in  Chemulpo,  one  of  the  fugitives  dropped  in 
the  street  a hand-bag  filled  with  Japanese  bills.  A Korean 
picked  it  up  and  examined  the  stuff,  but  could  not  imagine  why 
the  Japanese  should  want  to  carry  away  those  scraps  of  tough 
paper.  He  took  them  home  and  papered  his  wall  with  them. 
Some  time  after  this  a friend,  who  had  had  some  dealings  with 
the  Japanese  at  Fusan  and  knew  what  was  what,  happened  to 
call,  and  he  nearly  fell  in  a fit  when  he  saw  what  was  on  the 
wall,  but  he  recovered,  and  managed  to  hold  his  tongue  until  he 
had  effected  the  purchase  of  that  house  for  three  hundred  dol- 
lars. He  then  tore  from  the  walls  upwards  of  six  thousand  yen. 
An  even  more  amusing  case  was  that  of  the  merchant  who  was 
on  his  way  up  from  Fusan  with  a large  amount  of  paper  yen 
sewed  into  the  lining  of  his  coat.  Out  jumped  a highwayman 
on  him  in  a lonely  spot  and  demanded  his  money.  He  blandly 
replied  that  he  had  none.  The  robber  was  disgusted  and  ex- 
claimed, “Well,  then,  give  me  that  coat  and  you  take  this  one.” 
The  poor  fellow  could  do  no  less  than  comply.  A little  while 
after  this  the  same  robber  held  up  a gentleman  on  the  same 
road,  and,  finding  him  likewise  impecunious,  made  another 
■exchange  of  coats,  as  the  gentleman  was  dressed  in  silk.  The 


240 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


latter,  on  his  arrival  at  home,  tore  off  the  coat  and  ordered  the 
women  of  the  house  to  tear  it  up  for  mop-rags,  as  he  would 
never  wear  a coat  that  had  been  on  a robber’s  back.  In  about 
half  an  hour,  as  he  was  seated  with  his  long  pipe  in  his  mouth 
and  his  favourite  book  before  him  on  the  floor,  he  heard  a most 
unaccountable  disturbance  in  the  women’s  quarters,  and  in  they 
rushed  upon  him  screaming  that  the  coat  was  bewitched  with 
a million  imps.  The  little  fat  god  of  wealth  that  is  seated  on 
each  of  the  Japanese  bank  notes  had  been  too  much  for  their 
nerves.  Fortunately  the  gentleman  had  seen  Japanese  money, 
and,  as  he  gently  disengaged  the  crisp  notes,  he  murmured  to  him- 
self the  sanctimonious  aphorism,  “ Virtue  is  its  own  reward.” 


CHAPTER  XVII 


ARCHITECTURE  AND  BUILDING 

ONE  eminent  characteristic  of  the  whole  of  the  Far 
East  is  the  unsubstantial  character  of  their  buildings. 
Outside  of  a few  pagodas  and  other  monumental 
buildings  we  find  no  remains  of  ancient  edifices,  such 
as  excite  the  admiration  and  interest  of  the  traveller  in  western 
Asia  or  in  Europe.  It  may  be  said  with  reasonable  assurance 
that  there  are  practically  no  buildings  in  the  Far  East,  intended 
for  the  occupancy  of  people,  that  have  existed  for  three  cen- 
turies without  undergoing  such  radical  repairs  as  to  constitute 
a virtual  rebuilding.  This  is  especially  true  of  Korea.  The 
reason  is  that  there  is  a great  disproportion  between  the  weight 
of  the  roof  and  the  strength  of  its  supports.  The  principle  of 
the  arch  has  been  known  for  many  centuries,  and  it  has  been 
utilised  in  the  city  gates  and  in  a certain  number  of  bridges ; but 
it  has  not  been  used  in  ordinary  buildings,  however  permanent 
may  have  been  their  intended  use.  The  weight  of  the  roof  is 
invariably  supported  upon  wooden  pillars,  and  this,  too,  in  the 
most  primitive  manner.  Huge  beams  are  laid  across  from  the 
top  of  one  pillar  to  the  top  of  another,  and  from  the  centres  of 
these  beams  the  roof-tree  is  supported.  There  is  an  utter  lack 
of  anything  like  a strengthening  truss  to  prevent  the  building 
from  getting  out  of  plumb;  and  as  only  that  portion  of  the 
ground  immediately  under  each  of  the  pillars  is  specially  pre- 
pared, to  prevent  sinking,  we  see  that  the  enormous  weight  of  the 
tiled  roof  rests  upon  a ludicrously  insufficient  foundation.  It  is 
much  like  a Chinese  lady  of,  say,  one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds 
going  about  on  feet  two  inches  long  and  one  inch  wide.  This 
insecurity  is  increased  by  the  fact  that  in  sinking  these  slight 


242 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


foundations  the  Koreans  seldom  reach  hard-pan,  but  having  gone 
through  the  soft  upper  sediment  they  pound  the  earth  down  v ith 
a heavy  stone  or  iron  mallet,  and  without  more  ado  set  the  heavy 
foundation  stone  which  is  to  support  the  pillar.  The  impossi- 
bility of  securing  entire  uniformity  in  the  solidity  of  these  sepa- 
rate foundations  is  revealed  in  about  twenty  years,  when  the 
roof  of  the  building  begins  to  assume  a wavy  appearance,  and 
everything  loses  its  horizontal  or  perpendicular  position  in  favour 
of  a certain  bibulous  obliquity.  The  first  serious  repairs,  there- 
fore, which  a Korean  house  has  to  undergo  consist  in  tearing  out 
the  flimsy  material  which  fills  the  wall  spaces  between  the  pil- 
lars, relieving  each  pillar  in  turn  of  the  vertical  pressure  of  the 
roof  by  means  of  improvised  struts,  and  then  shifting  the  position 
of  the  foundation  stone  so  as  to  allow  the  pillar  to  be  made 
perpendicular  once  more.  The  Orientals  seem  never  to  have 
acquired  the  notion  of  a tie-beam  so  arranged  as  to  relieve  the 
lateral  thrust  caused  by  a roof  resting  upon  rafters.  By  far 
the  greater  part  of  the  weight  of  the  roof  rests  directly  upon  the 
centre  of  the  tie-beam.  The  result  is  that  this  beam  has  to  be 
of  enormous  thickness.  The  only  thing  that  prevents  the  build- 
ing from  leaning  is  the  mortise  of  the  tie-beam  into  the  top  of 
the  supporting  pillar.  There  are  no  trusses  to  pre\‘ent  leaning, 
and  so  it  takes  but  a few  years  for  the  building  to  get  out  of 
plumb.  It  is  doubtless  this  which  makes  Koreans  prefer  to  have 
their  houses  all  together  in  a bunch.  They  resemble  a company 
of  jolly  roisterers  trying  to  get  home  in  the  “ wee  sma’  hours 
with  arms  interlocked  for  mutual  support.  If  you  buy  a Korean 
house  in  a crowded  quarter  and  want  to  tear  it  down,  you  are 
likely  to  arouse  shrill  protests  from  your  neighbours  on  either 
side.  You  will  not  go  far  along  any  street  in  Seoul  or  any  other 
Korean  town  without  seeing  houses  propped  up  with  stout  sticks 
for  fear  they  will  fall  over  into  the  ditch.  On  the  whole,  one  has 
to  conclude  that  the  roof  is  considered  the  main  thing,  and  the 
foundation  only  a side  issue.  All  Korean  houses,  whether  those 
of  the  common  people  or  the  palaces  of  kings,  are  built  upon 


ARCHITECTURE  AND  BUILDING 


243' 


one  and  the  same  plan.  The  only  difference  is  in  degree.  The 
basis  of  the  structure  is  what  is  called  the  kan.  This  means  a 
space  about  eight  feet  square.  If  you  wish  to  buy  a house,  the 
first  question  will  be  as  to  how  many  kan  you  require.  The 
price  is  stated  in  terms  of  the  kan,  and  you  will  buy  the  building- 
just  as  you  would  buy  silk  by  the  yard  or  beef  by  the  pound. 
Of  course  the  condition  of  the  building  will  be  taken  into  con- 
sideration in  estimating  the  value,  but  the  price  of  tiled  house 
or  thatched  house  at  any  time  is  readily  found  in  the  market 
quotations  as  so  much  per  kan.  Some  years  ago  there  w^as  far 
greater  uniformity  in  price  than  now',  for  in  the  eighties  Koreans- 
did  not  realise  that  a house  on  the  main  street  was  of  any  more 
value  than  one  on  a side  lane ; nor  did  the  amount  of  land  about 
the  house  figure  at  all  in  the  price.  I have  more  than  once  bought 
a small  thatched  house  in  the  middle  of  a large  field  in  Seoul, 
paying  only  the  market  price  per  kan  of  house.  Those  days- 
have  gone  now,  and  the  situation  and  the  area  of  the  land  are 
carefully  taken  into  account.  All  Korean  houses  being  built 
on  a single  pattern,  a description  of  one  will  suffice  for  all.  After 
the  site  has  been  plotted  out  w ith  cord  and  the  position  of  each 
post  decided  upon,  holes  are  dug  at  each  of  these  points  to  a 
depth  of  four  or  five  feet,  until  something  like  solid  earth  has- 
been  reached.  Then  a number  of  workmen  stand  around  one  of 
these  holes,  holding  in  their  hands  ropes  attached  to  a large  stone 
or,  preferably,  a heavy  lump  of  iron.  As  the  foreman  sings  a 
droning  labour  song,  the  men  pull  simultaneously  at  the  ropes, 
and  the  stone  or  iron  is  heaved  high  in  the  air  and  falls  into  the 
hole,  thus  tamping  down  the  earth  at  the  point  wdrere  the  foun- 
dation stone  is  to  lie.  Crushed  stone  or  broken  pieces  of  tile  are- 
thrown  in  and  this  is  all  mashed  into  the  earth  to  make  the 
foundation  still  stronger.  Each  hole  is  treated  likew'ise,  and  then 
the  cJincJinfoI,  or  post  stones,  are  placed  in  position.  They  may 
protrude  a foot  or  more  from  the  surface  of  the  ground.  Usually 
they  are  too  small  to  reach  the  bottom  of  the  hole,  and  in  that 
case  loose  stones  are  piled  in  until  the  proper  level  is  reached. 


244 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


These  post  stones  are  always  placed  about  eight  feet  apart.  The 
posts,  eight  feet  in  height,  are  erected  upon  the  stones,  the  bottom 
of  each  being  cut  with  a small  adze,  so  as  to  fit  the  irregularities 
of  the  stone  as  well  as  possible.  The  top  of  each  post  has  a deep 
mortise  or  notch  into  which  the  heavy  cross-beams  are  fitted  and 
driven  down  with  mallets.  It  is  e^■ident  that  three  beams  have 
to  be  fitted  to  the  top  of  each  post  excepting  in  the  case  of  the 
corner  posts.  This  requires  the  cutting  down  of  the  ends  of  the 
supported  beams  to  such  an  extent  that  not  more  than  a quarter 
of  their  cross  section  is  presented  at  the  point  of  support.  After 
all  the  posts  and  cross  beams  have  been  put  in  place,  heavy 
uprights  are  erected  from  the  centres  of  these  beams,  and  on  these 
rest  the  roof-tree.  The  rafters,  simply  round  sticks  of  varying 
size,  are  naile'd  to  this  roof-tree  and  extend  about  two  feet 
beyond  the  wall  of  the  house  on  either  side.  They  are  always 
arranged  so  that  there  shall  be  a slight  dip  to  the  roof  when  it 
is  completed.  This  is  the  curve  characteristic  of  all  roofs  of  the 
Far  East.  After  this  the  whole  roof  is  covered  thickly  with 
fagots,  laid  roughly  on  and  tied  down  with  straw  rope,  and 
this  is  covered  two  or  three  inches  deep  with  ordinary  earth, 
on  which  the  hea^'y  tiles  are  laid.  The  latter  are  set  without 
mortar  or  plaster  of  any  kind,  and  their  weight  alone  is  guar- 
antee of  their  stability.  The  broad,  slightly  curved  “ female  ” 
tile  are  laid  first  with  the  concave  side  upward,  and  then  the  inter- 
stitial lines  are  covered  with  the  narrower  and  more  sharply 
curved  “ male  ” tiles  with  the  convex  side  upward.  Each  of  these 
is  set  in  ordinary  mud,  but  without  plaster.  It  must  be  confessed 
that  it  makes  a very  thorough  roof.  It  is  impervious  to  heat, 
and  no  ordinary  storm  will  beat  through  the  crevices  of  it.  There 
are  two  drawbacks.  The  weight  is  out  of  all  proportion  to  the 
rest  of  the  house,  and  the  constant  strain  is  sure  to  make  the 
structure  “ lie  down  ” sooner  or  later.  Then,  again,  the  mud 
in  which  the  “ male  ” tiles  are  set  is  full  of  seeds  of  all  kinds,  and 
during  the  rainy  season  in  summer  the  roof  is  sure  to  become 
a veritable  garden  of  weeds.  They  say  that  the  tiles  have  to  be 


A CORNER  GROCERY 

Dried  cuttlefish  (white)  hanging  on  the  wall,  with  dried  oysters  and 
clams  ; on  tlie  ground  dried  jujubes,  persimmons,  chestnuts,  ginger, 
and  other  delicacies 


ARCHITECTURE  AND  BUILDING 


245 


reset  each  year  for  two  or  three  years  before  the  seeds  get  killed 
out,  but  no  new  mud  must  be  added,  or  it  will  all  have  to  be 
done  over  again. 

Meanwhile  the  window  and  door  frames  have  been  put  up, 
and  the  mural  spaces  have  been  filled  in  with  a strong  wattle, 
upon  which  clay  mud  is  plastered.  After  this  mud  has  dried 
and  is  seamed  in  every  direction  with  cracks,  a kind  of  plaster 
is  applied  which  is  made  of  a mixture  of  fine  loamy  earth,  sand 
and  horse-manure,  the  last  ingredient  taking  the  place  of  hair. 
The  inside  and  outside  are  made  the  same,  for  the  overhanging 
eaves  are  supposed  to  keep  the  weather  from  the  outer  walls. 
When  this  is  covered  with  the  strong,  fibrous  Korean  paper,  it 
makes  a very  thorough  and  durable  wall. 

The  floor  is  an  important  matter,  as  it  is  both  floor  and  stove. 
From  the  level  of  the  ground  up  to  the  level  of  the  floor  they 
build  with  mud  and  stone,  making,  as  it  were,  three  or  four 
ditches,  which  converge  into  one  at  each  end  of  the  room.  The 
whole  floor  is  then  covered  with  large  slabs  of  stone  about  two 
inches  thick.  The  joints  are  carefully  sealed  with  cement  so 
that  no  smoke  can  come  through  into  the  room.  Over  the  stones 
a thin  layer  of  cement  is  spread,  and  then  the  whole  is  covered 
with  a heavy  oiled  paper  which  under  the  tread  of  stockinged 
feet  soon  wears  as  smooth  as  silk.  The  opening  to  the  fireplace 
is  outside  the  room,  and  above  it  is  generally  set  the  great  kettle 
for  boiling  the  family  rice.  This  is  the  kitchen,  and  it  is  simply 
the  dirt  floor,  with  whatever  benches,  shelves  and  implements 
are  necessary.  A room  heated  this  way  is  called  a pang,  and  it 
differs  from  the  Chinese  kang  in  no  essential  particular  except 
that  the  latter  occupies  only  part  of  the  room  and  is  raised  above 
the  floor  like  a divan,  while  the  Korean  forms  the  whole  of  the 
floor  itself.  A small  house  will  contain  only  one  room  like  this, 
with  a kitchen  attached  and  one  or  two  storerooms;  but  a large 
gentleman’s  establishment,  while  built  in  the  same  general  way, 
will  contain  perhaps  a dozen  or  more  such  rooms  and  a long  row 
of  servants’  quarters,  making  in  all  as  many  as  a hundred  and 


246 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


fifty  or  even  two  hundred  kan.  Every  dwelling  with  any  pre- 
tension to  comfort  will  have  a separate  part  called  the  sarang. 
This  is  the  gentleman's  reception-room,  and  is  approached  from 
the  outside  without  coming  near  the  women’s  part  of  the  house. 
This  latter  is  called  the  “ inner  room,”  and  no  one  of  the  male 
sex  will  enter  there  without  the  express  invitation  of  and  in 
company  with  the  master  of  the  house. 

The  Koreans  have  a passion  for  cutting  up  their  compounds 
with  endless  walls,  making  a veritable  labyrinth  of  the  place. 
To  our  eyes  this  is  a great  blemish,  for  it  leaves  little  opportunity 
for  a pleasing  effect  on  the  eye.  The  very  finest  Korean  house 
is  the  most  secluded,  and  you  can  discover  its  charms  only  by 
close  inspection,  and  by  twisting  in  and  out  through  numberless 
gates  and  alleys.  You  cannot  stand  off  and  admire  it  as  you 
can  a European  building.  On  the  street  side  it  presents  nothing 
to  the  eye  but  a plain  row  of  ordinary  Korean  kan  without  any- 
thing to  show  its  character  whatever.  Judging  from  their 
houses,  the  Koreans  do  not  put  their  best  side  out.  You  cross 
the  cesspool  to  get  into  the  gate;  you  go  through  the  servants’ 
quarters  and  stables  to  get  to  the  apartments  of  the  master  of 
the  house.  At  the  very  back  of  all,  and  most  inaccessible,  you 
may  find  a pretty  bank  with  some  flowering  shrubs,  some  quaint 
water-worn  stones,  and  perhaps  a solemn  stork  or  two.  In  none 
of  the  various  enclosures  will  you  find  a blade  of  grass  growing. 
Such  a thing  as  a lawn  is  quite  unknown,  and  if  grass  tries  to 
sprout  it  will  be  immediately  scraped  away  with  a hoe.  In  a 
A'cry  nice  house  you  may  find  a few  potted  plants  or  shrubs  in 
the  enclosure  before  the  sarang. 

The  ideal  house  site  will  face  the  south  and  will  have  a steep 
bank  behind  it.  The  south  means  warmth,  light  and  life.  The 
north  means  blackness,  cold  and  death.  This  is  an  idea  that  has 
been  borrowed  from  China,  and  is  not  indigenous  with  the 
Koreans.  The  same  is  true  of  every  grave  site  and  of  every 
prefectural  town  site  as  well.  Other  things  being  equal,  the 
southern  exposure  will  always  commend  itself  to  the  Korean. 


HOW  THEY  SHOVEL  DIRT 


ARCHITECTURE  AND  BUILDING 


247 


As  to  the  sanitary  arrangements  of  the  Korean  house,  the  less 
said  the  better.  These  people  have  not  learned  the  first  rudiments 
of  hygiene,  and  so  long  as  there  is  a ditch  that  will  carry  off  the 
water  that  falls  from  the  sky,  all  requirements  seem  to  be  met. 
The  scavenger  comes  around  at  any  time  of  day  to  take  away 
the  night  soil,  and  you  are  more  than  likely  to  pass  him  and  his 
load  as  you  enter  the  gentleman’s  compound.  To  the  Westerner 
this  insensibility  of  the  Korean,  and  of  all  the  dwellers  of  the 
Far  East  without  exception,  is  entirely  unaccountable.  You  will 
find  the  most  horribly  offensive  conditions  as  readily  among  the 
residences  of  the  wealthy  and  powerful  as  among  the  poor. 
There  is  this  much  to  be  said,  however,  before  leaving  this 
rather  unpleasant  subject : the  open  sewerage  of  Korea,  while 
offensive  to  the  eye,  is  far  less  so  to  the  nose  than  that  of  China, 
and  even  many  portions  of  Japan.  There  are  much  fewer  epi- 
demics of  cholera  in  Korea  than  in  Japan,  while  diphtheria,  that 
special  disease  resulting  from  imperfect  sewerage,  is  far  more 
common  in  Tokyo  than  in  Seorfi.  What  I would  maintain  is 
that  in  spite  of  the  offensiveness  of  the  sanitation  of  Seoul,  both 
to  the  eye  and  the  nose,  there  is  little  evidence  to  prove  that  the 
actual  health  conditions  among  the  natives  are  any  worse  than 
among  the  Japanese  or  Chinese. 

The  Koreans  seem  to  have  but  a vague  idea  of  what  a street 
is  really  for,  and  of  the  restrictions  which  communal  ownership 
should  place  upon  its  use.  It  is  only  since  the  coming  of  for- 
eigners that  the  streets  of  Seoul  have  assumed  anything  like  a 
semblance  of  order.  Up  to  that  time  even  the  broad  street  which 
forms  the  central  artery  of  the  city  was  so  choked  up  with  booths 
and  stalls  that  two  carts  could  hardly  pass  each  other  at  certain 
points.  The  Korean  shopkeeper  thinks  nothing  of  extending 
his  establishment  ortt  into  the  street  for  a distance  of  two,  three 
or  even  four  feet.  At  first  he  does  it  only  as  a temporary  booth 
or  screen  for  his  goods,  but  as  soon  as  the  public  get  used  to  going 
around  the  obstruction  he  will  quietly  plant  permanent  posts  at 
the  limits  of  his  encroachment,  and  the  thing  is  done.  If  expos- 


248 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


tulated  with,  he  will  put  on  a look  of  injured  innocence,  and  assert 
that  he  has  been  using  the  space  for  many  years,  in  fact,  since 
his  father’s  time,  and  has  a right  to  it.  Not  once  but  many  times 
have  I been  obliged  to  nip  this  thing  in  the  bud  on  streets  leading 
to  my  own  house.  The  little  awning  appears,  and  you  bend  aside 
to  pass  it,  but  if  you  are  wise  you  will  stop  and  see  that  it  is 
removed  ere  it  is  too  late.  The  street  is  also  the  depository  of  any 
and  every  kind  of  filth.  Sooner  or  later  it  is  trampled  down  b}’ 
the  hoofs  of  passing  horses  and  is  lost  to  sight ; but  if  it  were 
not  for  the  great  army  of  scavenger  hawks  that  keep  eternal 
watch  for  tempting  morsels,  and  that  other  army,  of  anaemic  dogs, 
who  live  on  the  border  line  of  famine,  I do  not  know  what  would 
become  of  the  people  of  any  Korean  town.  If  a Korean  wants 
some  dirt  to  make  mud  with  which  to  plaster  a wall  or  mend  a 
smoke-flue,  he  simply  goes  out  into  the  middle  of  the  street  and 
digs  as  much  as  he  wants.  No  care  is  taken  to  fill  up  the  hole, 
and  time  only  accomplishes  the  feat.  Scores  of  times  I have 
come  upon  places  where  a hole  had  been  dug  in  the  street  large 
enough  to  bury  an  ox.  The  people  who  took  the  soil  away  may 
obligingly  deposit  the  sweepings  of  their  yards  there  as  a pre- 
tence to  remove  the  serious  obstruction,  but  it  is  mere  pretence. 
So  long  as  the  vandal  leaves  a narrow  path  by  which  people  can 
pass,  there  is  likely  to  be  no  complaint  at  all.  The  principle  seems 
to  be  that  what  belongs  to  nobody  in  particular  is  lawful  loot 
for  anybody. 

No  Korean  housa;  however  humble,  is  complete  unless  it  is 
surrounded  by  a wall  or  a fence  of  some  kind  that  cannot  be 
seen  through.  The  reason  is  twofold.  It  is  necessary  to  screen 
the  women  from  observation.  This  is  the  prime  reason ; and  it 
is  considered  a serious  misdemeanour  to  look  over  a wall  or  fence 
into  your  neighbour’s  yard.  If  it  is  necessan,"  to  mount  the  roof 
of  a house  for  any  purpose,  it  is  obligatory  upon  the  occupants 
of  the  house  to  give  notice  to  all  the  neighbours,  so  that  the 
women  may  get  under  cover  and  escape  observation.  The  climb- 
ing of  a wall  is  the  act  of  a thief,  and  you  will  see  Koreans 


BUILDING  A DIRT  WALL 


4 


1 


i 


ARCHITECTURE  AND  BUILDING 


249 


going  a long  way  around  to  enter  the  gate,  even  when  there  is 
a breach  in  the  wall  quite  sufficient  to  give  easy  access.  But, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  Korean  has  no  respect  whatever  for  a 
fence  which  he  can  see  through.  He  will  climb  over  or  through 
and  consider  it  no  trespass  at  all.  Before  many  weeks  have 
passed  the  pickets  will  begin  to  disappear,  and  someone  will  be 
the  richer  by  so  much  firewood.  It  is  only  the  wall  or  fence 
that  is  impervious  to  sight  that  impresses  the  native  of  this 
country.  The  ordinary  walls  are  made  of  dirt  packed  down 
tightly  between  parallel  boards  by  a process  quite  unique,  and 
to  be  described  only  by  an  illustration.  The  wall  is  about 
eighteen  inches  thick  and  is  covered  with  tiles.  The  sides  are 
scraped  smooth,  and  after  they  have  dried  they  are  covered  with 
lime  plaster.  If  well  made  and  with  sufficient  foundation,  such 
a wall  will  last  for  many  years.  Where  the  red  disintegrated 
granite  is  available  the  wall  can  be  made  so  solid  that  even  after 
the  tiles  have  been  removed  it  will  stand  for  years. 

The  Koreans  have  no  notion  of  public  parks  or  other  places 
of  public  ornament  or  recreation,  and  yet  they  are  passionately 
fond  of  wandering  about  the  hills  finding  picturesque  nooks  and 
enjoying  the  beauties  of  nature.  In  many  of  these  retreats  there 
are  semi-public  houses  of  diversion,  which  include  a consider- 
able area  of  land  enclosed  by  a wall.  These  places  belong  to  the 
government,  and  can  be  used  only  by  application  to  the  proper 
office.  School  picnics  or  other  similar  entertainments  are  held 
in  these  pretty  retreats  during  the  proper  season,  but  it  is  only 
the  upper  classes  that  have  access  to  them  at  any  time.  Their 
only  attractions  are  a rocky  gorge,  a little  pond  and  a summer 
pavilion  ten  feet  square.  In  country  districts  the  monasteries 
form  the  public  parks.  These  are  always  beautifully  situated, 
and  are  surrounded  with  trees.  Here  the  people  will  congregate 
and  have  a grand  picnic,  generally  in  connection  with  some 
national  festival.  But  besides  this,  there  is  in  almost  every 
village  some  large  tree  beneath  Avhich  the  people  meet  to  talk 
and  gossip.  It  is  the  village  agora.  The  old  men  bring  out 


250 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


their  chess  boards  and  play,  and  the  leaders  of  the  village  talk 
over  the  communal  affairs.  If  there  is  any  gossip  going,  you 
will  be  sure  to  hear  it  at  this  point.  Not  uncommonly  the  village 
shrine  is  the  place  of  general  rendezvous. 

Without  doubt  the  city  walls  are  the  most  imposing  struc- 
tures in  Korea.  The  enormous  work  represented  by  the  wall 
which  surrounds  Seoul  is  at  once  apparent,  and  is  very  impres- 
sive. As  you  pass  through  the  country  you  will  frequently  see 
the  top  of  some  rocky  hill  crowned  with  a genuine  acropolis. 
It  is  a heavy  stone  wall  twelve  or  fifteen  feet  high  and  a mile 
or  more  around.  Within  you  will  find  no  evidences  of  life  nor 
of  recent  occupation.  Long  centuries  ago  the  usefulness  of  these 
places  of  refuge  passed  away,  and  they  remain,  like  the  feudal 
castles  of  Europe,  mere  monuments  of  past  events.  They  never 
were  places  of  permanent  residence,  but  were  used,  like  the 
block-houses  in  western  America,  when  there  was  danger  of 
an  Indian  raid. 

A word  is  in  place  regarding  architectural  decorations. 
These  do  not  consist,  as  in  the  West,  in  variations  of  general 
style.  The  Koreans  adhere  strictly  to  one  plan,  and  their  forms 
of  ornamentation  are  wholly  superficial.  Only  government 
buildings  can  be  painted.  A private  citizen  would  be  arrested 
and  punished  severely  if  he  presumed  to  paint  his  house.  It 
would  imply  an  assumption  of  royal  privilege.  The  same  would 
happen  if  he  should  leave  the  posts  of  his  house  round  instead 
of  squaring  them.  This  also  is  a royal  prerogative. 

It  is  not  easy  to  describe  the  paint  on  a Korean  palace.  If 
the  reader  will  imagine  that  a rainbow  has  been  dashed  against 
the  house  and  that  fragments  of  it  have  adhered  to  every  ex- 
posed piece  of  wood  he  will  gain  a faint  idea  of  how  it  looks. 
The  colours  are  the  primitive  hues  of  the  rainbow,  and  they 
are  applied  in  little  curved  rainbow  patterns,  so  that  any  painted 
surface  looks  like  a conglomerate  of  kaleidoscopic  fragments. 
It  tires  the  imagination  to  fancy  how  the  painter  could  do  the 
same  thing  twice,  but  we  find  that  he  can  do  nothing  else. 


ART  AND  RELIGION 

(7)  Under  tile  eaves  of  an  audience  hall 
(r>)  A Buddhist  Holy  of  Holies 


ARCHITECTURE  AND  BUILDING 


251 


Everywhere  we  find  the  same  heterogeneous  consistency.  On 
the  yamen  gates  we  frequently  find  the  great  circle  made  by 
putting  together  two  huge  commas.  This  is  called  the  tagciik, 
and  is  the  emblem  seen  on  the  Korean  flag.  It  is  supposed  to 
represent  the  male  and  female  properties  in  nature. 

Wood  carving  plays  some  part  in  the  ornamentation  of  pub- 
lic buildings,  though  here  again  the  private  citizen  is  debarred. 
The  latticed  windows  sometimes  consist  of  an  elaborate  filigree, 
but,  as  ordinary  pine  wood  is  always  used,  no  very  fine  effects 
are  possible.  One  of  the  most  characteristic  forms  of  wood 
carving  is  seen  in  the  multiplicity  of  horns  that  protrude  from 
the  ends  of  the  beams  beneath  the  eaves  of  audience  halls  and 
other  ceremonial  buildings.  To  save  these  from  the  contamina- 
tion of  innumerable  sparrows,  a wire  net  is  commonly  drawn 
about  the  building  just  beneath  the  eaves.  Not  infrequently 
a curious  addition  is  made  by  hanging  from  the  corners  of 
eaves  a large  number  of  small  pieces  of  broken  window-glass. 
Each  piece  is  suspended  from  a separate  string,  and  they  all 
hang  in  a bunch  so  that  the  least  breath  of  wind  makes  them 
strike  together  and  produce  a soft  and  pleasant  tinkle.  Each 
piece  of  glass  is  painted  in  colours. 

Among  the  most  conspicuous  objects  in  Korea  are  the 
earthenware  •“  monkeys  ” which  stand  in  rows  along  the  slop- 
ing corners  of  the  city  gates  and  government  buildings.  These 
nondescript  figures  do  not  represent  monkeys,  but  they  are  so 
called  by  foreigners  because  they  bear  some  resemblance  to  that 
animal.  Nor  are  they  placed  upon  the  gates  by  way  of  orna- 
ment. The  vivid  imagination  of  the  Korean  peoples  heaven 
and  earth  with  all  sorts  of  demons,  and  these  “ monkeys  ” are 
placed  on  the  gates  in  order  to  frighten  away  these  evil  influ- 
ences. This  is  the  most  pointed,  if  not  the  only,  reference  which 
the  government,  as  such,  makes  to  the  native  spirit  worship. 
In  every  other  respect  the  Confucian  system  is  adhered  to. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 


TRANSPORTATION 

The  condition  of  any  people  can  be  fairly  estimated 
by  the  facilities  they  enjoy  for  intercommunication. 
Judged  by  this  standard,  the  Koreans  must  be  set 
down  as  among  the  least  favoured  of  peoples. 
Throughout  most  of  the  country  the  roads  are  simply  bridle- 
paths of  the  roughest  description,  over  which  it  would  be  almost 
impossible  for  a jinrikisha  to  pass,  to  say  nothing  of  a carriage 
or  a cart.  There  are  a few  localities  where  carts  can  be  used 
within  a limited  radius,  but  these  are  so  few  compared  with 
the  whole  extent  of  the  country  that  they  merely  form  an  excep- 
tion to  the  rule.  On  the  great  road  between  Seoul  and  the 
Chinese  border  or  between  Seoul  and  a few  of  the  more  impor- 
tant provincial  centres  there  may  be  an  occasional  and  spasmodic 
attempt  at  repairs,  but  it  is  only  when  the  roads  become  almost 
entirely  impassable,  and  some  disgusted  official  makes  a momen- 
tary stir  over  the  matter  in  Seoul,  that  a few  hundred  dollars 
may  be  given  for  repairs.  Of  this  sum  three-fourths  goes  into 
someone’s  pockets  and  the  rest  into  the  repairs.  This  sort  of 
thing  is  always  looked  upon  as  more  or  less  of  a joke,  and,  when 
repairs  are  in  progress,  the  country  people  wink  at  each  other 
and  ask  which  official  it  is  now  that  has  been  stuck  in  the  mud. 
On  ordinary  roads  there  are  frequent  places  where  nothing 
wider  than  a bicycle  could  pass  on  wheels,  and  even  this 
ubiquitous  vehicle  has  to  be  picked  up  bodily  and  carried  over 
rough  places  every  few  miles.  The  constant  shuffling  of  feet 
along  these  narrow  paths  through  so  many  centuries  has  worn 
the  road  down  below  the  level  of  the  ground,  especially  where 
it  passes  over  hills,  for  here  the  wind  has  full  play  and  sweeps 


TRANSPORTATION  • 


253 


away  the  pulverised  earth.  In  the  valleys  the  roads  lie  along 
the  tops  of  the  banks  that  separate  the  rice-fields,  and  so  are 
sure  to  be  kept  from  being  entirely  destroyed.  Even  between 
important  towns  the  path  is  sometimes  just  a foot-wide  path 
along  the  top  of  a rice-field  bank,  and  it  taxes  the  imagination 
to  believe  that  such  a wretched  thoroughfare  is  all  that  connects 
two  important  centres.  I shall  never  forget  the  curious  sensa- 
tion with  which  I passed  over  the  road  between  Chemulpo  and 
Seoul  for  the  first  time.  It  made  me  think  of  the  sheep-paths 
on  the  old  farm  up  in  Vermont,  and  if  it  had  not  been  for  the 
most  positive  statements  of  my  guide  I should  have  refused  to 
believe  that  it  could  lead  to  the  metropolis  of  a kingdom  of 
over  ten  million  people. 

Near  the  great  centres  there  are  a few  substantial  stone 
bridges,  but  for  the  most  part  the  country  is  without  permanent 
bridges.  There  is  a brilliant  exception  to  this  in  the  celebrated 
Mansckyo,  or  “ Ten-thousand  Year  Bridge,”  at  Hamheung.  It 
is  almost  half  a mile  long  and  is  built  upon  natural  forked  tim- 
bers sunk  in  the  sand.  In  the  crotches  of  these  lie  the  cross- 
pieces. The  floor  of  the  bridge  is  made  of  timbers  about  the 
size  of  railroad  sleepers,  tied  together  with  the  tough  vine  which 
the  Koreans  call  cliik.  Like  the  old-time  London  Bridge,  it 
usually  has  many  houses  built  upon  it,  but  when  the  rainy  season 
comes  on  these  are  hastily  removed,  for  more  than  once  a sud- 
den storm  among  the  mountains  has  swollen  the  stream  so 
rapidly  that  the  bridge  has  been  partially  swept  away  before 
the  sleepers  were  aware  of  their  danger.  Almost  every  year 
sees  portions  of  it  swept  away,  and,  as  the  cost  of  its  repair 
is  a charge  upon  the  government,  and  the  contract  nets  the 
carpenters  a round  sum,  it  is  looked  upon  as  one  of  the  “ good 
things  ” of  the  season.  It  was  this  bridge  that  the  Russians 
fired  in  May  of  1904. 

The  streams  are  crossed  in  three  ways : by  ferry,  by  ford 
and  by  little  temporary  bridges,  which  are  not  expected  to  sur- 
vive the  rains  of  the  summer  season.  All  streams  whose  per- 


254 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


manent  depth  is  greater  than  a man’s  height  are  crossed  by 
ferry.  These  ferries  are  supposed  to  be  government  affairs, 
and  are  supported  out  of  the  finances  of  the  district  in  which 
they  are  situated,  but  the  passenger  is  always  supposed  to  pay 
a small  sum  as  a gratuity.  I imagine  that  the  ferryman  has 
to  depend  largely  upon  this  source  of  income.  The  ferryboats 
are  wide,  shallow  affairs,  and  when  they  are  loaded  down  with 
a miscellaneous  crowd  of  loaded  bullocks  and  pack-ponies,  gen- 
tlemen’s “ chairs,”  coolies’  jiggys  and  a score  or  more  of  men, 
women  and  children,  it  generally  seems  as  if  it  was  only  by  a 
special  dispensation  of  Providence  that  the  opposite  bank  could 
ever  be  reached.  Indeed,  an  annual  sacrifice  is  made  to  the 
spirits  of  those  who  have  been  drowned  in  this  and  in  other 
Avays. 

The  little  temporary  bridges  built  on  small  sticks,  covered 
with  brushw’ood  and  earth  on  top  of  all,  are  one  of  the  curiosi- 
ties of  Korea.  They  are  barely  wide  enough  for  a single  animal 
or  person  to  pass,  and  they  usually  have  one  or  more  holes 
through  which  the  unwary  may  put  his  foot.  The  Korean  word 
for  bridge  is  the  same  as  that  for  leg,  and  the  reason  for  this 
is  plain.  The  bridge  is  simply  a row  of  artificial  legs  let  down 
into  the  sand.  Time  was  when  the  Koreans  were  capable  of 
better  things,  for  during  the  Japanese  invasion  of  1592,  when 
the  Chinese  army  came  to  help  the  Koreans  and  arrived  at  the 
bank  of  the  Imjin  River,  the  Chinese  general  refused  to  take 
his  men  across  unless  the  Koreans  would  build  a substantial 
hridge.  The  distance  was  fully  one  hundred  yards,  but  the 
Koreans,  in  their  thirst  for  revenge  upon  the  Japanese,  were 
ecpial  to  any  task.  On  one  side  was  a heavily  wooded  bluff’  and 
on  the  other  a sandy  shore.  On  the  low  bank  they  sunk  great 
posts,  and  between  these  and  the  trees  on  the  opposite  side  they 
carried  eight  great  hawsers  of  the  tough  chik  A'ine,  some  eight 
inches  in  diameter.  These  dragged  in  the  water  in  mid-stream ; 
but,  going  out  in  boats,  they  put  stout  bars  of  oak  between  the 
hawsers  and  twisted  them  until  they  were  brought  well  above 


TRANSPORTATION 


255 


the  surface.  On  these  hawsers  brushwood  was  piled  and  on 
the  brushwood  clay.  This  was  trampled  down  firmly,  and  the, 

armies  crossed  upon  it  in  comfort  and  safety.  So  far  as  we 

are  aware,  this  was  the  first  great  suspension  bridge  mentioned 
in  history.  The  frail  rope-bridges  of  the  Andes  may  antedate 
this,  but  they  are  of  quite  a different  order  of  structure. 

Korean  tradition  tells  of  one  other  way  by  which  a river 

has  been  crossed,  but  we  would  hardly  classify  it  among  the 

regular  methods.  The  story  goes  that  a certain  prince  was  ban- 
ished to  a distant  locality  and  held  in  durance  on  an  island  in 
a river.  One  of  the  officials  who  was  loyal  to  him  followed 
him  and  took  up  his  residence  in  a neighbouring  town.  He 
greatly  desired  to  carry  some  food  to  the  prince,  but  there  was 
no  way  to  cross  the  stream.  He  sat  down  beside  it  and  waited, 
and  presently  the  water  divided,  like  the  waters  of  the  Red  Sea, 
and  he  passed  across  dry-shod  to  the  prince. 

Such  being  the  very  backward  condition  of  all  roads  in 
Korea,  we  are  not  surprised  to  learn  that  during  the  heavy  rains 
■of  summer,  when  the  temporary  bridges  are  all  down  and  small 
streams  have  become  roaring  torrents,  travel  and  traffic  are 
practically  suspended,  excepting  in  the  case  of  that  which  goes 
by  way  of  junk.  At  this  season  the  Korean  moves  about  but 
little.  It  is  his  lazy  time,  unless  he  is  a farmer  and  has  to  look 
after  the  transplanting  of  his  rice.  Ordinarily  he  will  stay  at 
home  and  consume  an  indefinite  number  of  melons,  seeds 
and  all. 

With  the  exception  of  the  railway  lines  from  Seoul  to  Fusan 
and  Chemulpo  respectively,  and  the  various  Japanese  steamship 
companies,  the  methods  of  transportation  in  Korea  are  still  the 
primitive  ones,  and  all  but  a small  fraction  of  the  carrying  is 
done  as  it  has  been  all  through  the  centuries.  These  methods 
correspond  precisely  with  the  character  of  the  roads,  which,  as 
•we  have  seen,  are  mere  bridle  or  foot  paths. 

First  in  importance  comes  the  famous  Korean  bullock.  He 
means  more  to  the  Korean  than  the  horse  does  to  the  Arab  or 


256 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


the  llama  to  the  Peruvian.  Not  once  but  many  times  a sweeping" 
scourge  has  killed  off  a large  fraction  of  the  cattle  in  one  sec- 
tion or  other  of  Korea,  and  in  each  instance  it  has  precipitated 
a famine.  The  heavy  mud  of  the  rice-fields  cannot  be  cultivated 
without  this  animal,  and  in  case  of  his  death  the  farmer  simply 
lets  his  field  lie  fallow.  Korea  can  boast  of  a sturdy,  patient 
and  tractable  breed  of  cattle.  These  bullocks  which  wind  in  and 
out  among  the  hills  of  this  country,  carrying  every  sort  of 
produce,  are  not  the  fierce  and  rampageous  animals  that  are 
supposed  in  our  own  land  to  accept  every  challenge  of  a red 
rag.  They  are  docility  itself.  This  heavy,  slow-plodding  ani- 
mal, docile,  long-suffering,  uncomplaining,  would  make  a fitting 
emblem  of  the  Korean  people.  How  often  have  we  seen  a 
brutal,  drunken  bullock-driver  vent  his  spleen  on  someone  else 
by  beating  his  animal  with  a club  or  violently  jerk  the  rope 
tied  to  the  wooden  ring  that  passes  through  the  cartilage  of  its 
nose.  But  the  patient  bullock  never  remonstrates  or  attempts 
to  defend  itself.  Just  so  through  the  long  centuries  have  the 
Korean  people  borne  the  burdens  of  their  rulers  and  taken  their 
blows  without  complaint,  until  at  last  patience  has  become  a 
second  nature,  and  the  Western  on-looker  marvels  at  the  amount 
of  oppression  that  the  ordinary  Korean  will  endure  without 
revolt.  The  bullock  could  turn  and  rend  his  master  with  utmost 
ease,  even  as  the  people  could  relieve  themselves  of  oppression, 
but  the  patience  of  the  Korean  has  reached  a point  where  it 
ceases  to  be  a virtue. 

Next  in  importance  comes  the  Korean  pony.  Nowhere  else 
in  Asia  is  this  diminutive  creature  matched.  The  only  thing 
like  him  is  the  Shetland  pony,  but,  while  the  latter  is  a stocky 
and  shaggy  beast,  proportioned  very  differently  from  the  ordi- 
nary horse,  the  Korean  animal  is  simply  a miniature  of  the 
larger  breed,  and  his  proportions  are  often  as  perfect  as  are 
found  in  the  best  of  our  own  boasted  horses.  Histor}"  and  tra- 
dition have  much  to  say  about  this  breed  of  horse.  As  far  back 
as  ancient  Yemak,  which  flourished  at  the  beginning  of  our  era, 


TRANSPORTATION 


257 


we  read  that  the  horses  were  so  small  that  men  could  ride  under 
the  branches  of  the  fruit  trees  without  striking  their  heads 
against  them.  From  time  immemorial  the  island  of  Quelpart 
has  been  the  famous  breeding-place  of  the  hardy  pony,  and  the 
Mongols  established  themselves  there  very  strongly  in  order  to 
breed  horses  for  use  in  their  wars.  But  for  all  this  the  Koreans 
seem  to  have  developed  no  love  for  the  horse  such  as  redeems 
the  character  of  the  Bedouin.  The  Koreans  never  mutilate  their 
animals,  and  the  result  is  that,  though  the  bulls  are  almost  as 
quiet  and  docile  as  the  oxen  of  the  West,  the  little  stallions  are 
inveterate  fighters.  Even  when  tied  head  to  tail  in  a long  line 
they  are  almost  sure  to  get  tangled  up  in  a squealing  melee 
unless  their  drivers  are  at  hand.  I shall  not  soon  forget  the 
occasion  on  which  the  beast  I was  riding  succeeded  in  getting 
both  his  forelegs  over  the  neck  of  my  wife’s  mount  and  pro- 
ceeded to  chew  its  ears  off.  It  was  a novel  and  exciting 
tete-a-tete. 

But  besides  the  bullock  and  the  horse  there  is  another  “ beast 
of  burden  ” in  Korea  that  outranks  them  both,  and  that  is  man. 
One  could  not  safely  quote  figures  here,  but  my  impression  is 
that  more  dead  weight  is  carried  on  men’s  backs  than  on  those 
of  bullocks  and  horses  combined.  As  a rule,  it  is  only  the  large 
through  traffic  that  is  carried  on  animals’  backs,  and  even  this  is 
often  seen  on  men’s  backs.  The  dried  fish  from  the  northeast 
all  come  around  by  boat  or  across  by  pack-horse.  Brushwood, 
grass  and  fagots  are  brought  into  the  large  centres  on  bullocks, 
horses  and  men’s  backs.  Americans  who  are  expert  in  throwing 
the  “ diamond  hitch  ” have  confessed  that  the  Koreans  can  beat 
them  at  the  game.  Who  can  wonder,  since  the  Koreans  have 
been  learning  for  the  last  four  thousand  years  — a pretty  thor- 
ough apprenticeship!  Not  only  are  these  people  experts  in  adapt- 
ing a load  to  an  animal’s  back,  but  they  have  solved  the  problem 
of  how  to  distribute  the  weight  of  a load  on  a man’s  back  so  that 
he  can  carry  the  maximum  weight  with  the  minimum  of  fatigue. 
It  is  safe  to  say  that  the  Korean  jiggy,  or  carrying-frame,  is  almost 


258 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


ideal  in  its  construction.  It  is  so  built  that  the  weight  is  nicely 
poised,  and  is  so  distributed  upon  the  hips,  the  back  and  the 
shoulders  that  each  part  bears  its  proportionate  burden.  The 
result  is  that  a man  can  carry  any  load  that  his  legs  will  enable 
him  to  support.  This  jiggy  is  a unique  national  institution;  as 
much  so  as  the  samovar  is  of  Russia,  or  the  bull-fight  is  of  Spain, 
Compare  it  with  the  methods  in  vogue  in  other  lands.  The  Chi- 
nese balance  their  burden  in  two  baskets  attached  to  a bamboo 
stick.  This  is  carried  over  the  shoulder.  The  stick  has  to  be  long 
enough  so  that  the  swinging  baskets  will  not  strike  his  legs  as 
he  walks,  and  the  weight  is  so  applied  to  his  body  that  only  a 
small  part  of  his  strength  can  be  brought  into  play.  \Mien  his 
burden  cannot  be  divided,  he  has  to  carry  a counterbalancing 
weight  in  one  basket.  He  requires  almost  three  times  as  much 
room  in  the  street  as  the  Korean  carrier.  The  Korean  sets  his 
jiggy  on  the  ground,  and  props  it  up  with  his  forked  stick. 
Placing  the  load  on  the  frame,  he  ties  it  there  securely  with  a 
cord  that  forms  an  essential  part  of  the  apparatus.  Kneeling 
down,  he  inserts  his  arms  into  the  two  padded  loops  and  fits  them 
on  his  shoulders.  Then  leaning  forward,  he  throws  the  weight 
of  the  load  upon  his  back,  and  by  the  aid  of  the  stick  rises  to  a 
standing  posture.  He  can  easily  rise  with  a weight  of  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  pounds,  but  if  it  is  three  hundred  pounds  or  more, 
he  requires  the  help  of  another  man  to  rise.  I have  seen  Korean 
coolies  carry  a weight  of  four  hundred  pounds  in  this  way  a 
distance  of  several  hundred  yards  without  resting.  Of  course 
such  a thing  would  be  entirely  beyond  the  power  of  a Chinese 
coolie  with  his  bamboo  stick.  Either  the  stick  or  his  shoulder 
must  break.  The  average  load  that  a Korean  will  carry  at  the 
rate  of  thirty  miles  a day  is  about  one  hundred  pounds.  The 
pack-ponies  carry  about  twice  as  much,  and  the  bullocks  from 
three  to  four  times  as  much. 

Besides  these,  there  are  several  special  methods  of  transporta- 
tion confined  to  particular  kinds  of  burdens.  Heavy  stones  are 
carried  on  carts  if  there  is  a road,  and  if  it  be  in  a part  of  the 


1 


( 


TRANSPORTATION 


259 


country  where  carts  are  used;  but  for  short  distances  this  is 
usually  accomplished  by  means  of  a long,  heavy  pole  or  beam 
resting  on  the  shoulders  of  many  men.  This  piece  of  wood  is 
fifteen  feet  long,  six  inches  in  thickness  at  the  middle,  and  three 
at  the  ends.  The  stone  is  attached  to  it  by  heavy  ropes,  and  four, 
six  or  eight  men  put  their  shoulders  to  the  carrying  beam  at  each 
end.  They  stand  so  close  together  that  their  bodies  actually 
touch  each  other,  and  it  would  be  impossible  to  walk  if  they  did 
not  keep  exact  step,  like  a line  of  prisoners  at  Sing-sing.  The 
knack  of  doing  this  is  acquired,  and  there  is  a distinct  class  of 
workmen  who  receive  special  wages  for  it. 

One  of  the  most  conspicuous  occupations  of  Korea  is  that 
of  water-carrier.  In  the  rural  districts  the  women  of  the  house 
generally  carry  the  water  from  the  spring  or  well  to  the  house 
in  jars  on  their  heads,  but  in  the  large  towns  this  work  is  done 
by  a special  class  of  men.  Seoul  is  supplied  with  water  only  by 
the  miserable  neighbourhood  wells,  about  which  the  less  said  the 
better.  The  people  do  not  hesitate  to  wash  their  soiled  clothes 
immediately  beside  the  well,  where  the  filth  is  readily  washed 
back  into  it,  and  vegetables  or  other  things  are  generally  cleaned 
beside  the  well-curb.  These  wells  are  often  very  far  from 
sanitary,  and  it  is  to  them  that  we  must  trace  the  terrible- 
results  of  occasional  cholera  epidemics  and  other  infectious  dis- 
eases. To  supply  a large  city  with  water  from  this  source  is 
a work  of  no  small  magnitude,  and  the  water-carrier  is  a recog- 
nised institution,  which  boasts  of  a'  powerful  guild.  The  work 
is  genuine  and  hard,  and  the  pay  is  correspondingly  high.  This 
high  pay  puts  a premium  upon  the  work.  The  applicant  for  a 
position  as  a water-carrier  in  any  thickly  populated  portion  of 
Seoul  will  have  to  pay  from  forty  to  one  hundred  dollars  for  the 
position.  Each  house  to  which  water  is  carried  pays  a monthly 
fee  for  the  service.  The  water  is  carried  in  two  wooden  buckets 
the  size  and  shape  of  an  inverted  firkin,  suspended  from  a yoke 
which  rests  upon  the  small  of  the  back  and  is  held  in  place  by 
straps  over  the  shoulders.  The  buckets  are  fastened  to  the  yoke 


26o 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


by  bamboo  fibres,  and  the  peculiar  gait  affected  by  the  carrier 
swings  the  buckets  just  enough  to  make  the  fastenings  rub 
together  and  send  forth  a strident  squeak  which,  like  the  horrible 
yell  of  the  axles  of  Chinese  barrows,  warns  people  to  make  way 
for  the  water-carrier. 

In  can-ying  ordinary  small  packages  the  Koreans  do  not 
wrap  them  up  in  paper  and  tie  them  with  a string  as  we  do. 
Paper  is  far  too  valuable  and  string  is  too  rare  to  make  this  pos- 
sible ; but  the  article  to  be  carried  is  placed  on  a square  cloth, 
and  the  corners  brought  up  over  it  and  knotted.  In  going  to 
the  market  in  the  morning  the  Korean  will  take  a long,  narrow 
cloth  bag,  open  at  both  ends,  and  into  this  he  will  pour  his  various 
purchases,  perhaps  making  a knot  in  the  bag  to  keep  them  sepa- 
rate. Then  he  ties  the  two  ends  of  the  bag  together,  and  swings 
this  completed  circle  over  his  shoulder  and  goes  home.  His 
method  of  carrying  his  long,  “ bologna-sausage  ” strings  of  cash 
is  most  peculiar.  He  inserts  the  end  of  the  long  string  beneath 
the  cord  which  forms  his  waistband,  and  which  precariously  sup- 
ports his  nether  garments,  and,  bringing  the  other  end  about  his 
waist,  he  twists  it  again  through  the  waist-cord.  One  would 
think  this  a most  clumsy  and  uncomfortable  way  to  earn,"  it,  but 
one  good  object  at  least  is  conserved;  that  is,  the  money  is 
effectually  concealed  beneath  his  flowing  robes,  and  its  existence 
is  unguessed  until  he  chooses  to  disclose  it.  To  the  \\'^esterner 
this  precaution  may  seem  unnecessary,  but  in  the  Orient,  at  least 
in  Korea,  people  studiously  avoid  the  display  of  wealth  unless 
they  have  the  influence  necessary  to  protect  it  from  spoliation. 

The  subject  of  transportation  would  be  but  half  co^"ered  if 
we  omitted  the  boats  of  Korea.  From  the  earliest  times  these 
people  have  been  large  users  of  this  method  of  carrying.  The 
mountainous  character  of  the  country,  the  miserable  roads  and 
the  many  possibilities  of  interference  on  the  highway  have  driven 
them  to  the  water-ways.  But  the  high  tides  and  the  consequent 
strong  currents  on  the  western  coast  have  also  mvited  them  to 
the  water-ways.  Our  notion  of  the  coast  is  anything  but  invit- 


THE  SHIPYARD 


i 


TRANSPORTATION 


261 

ing;  but  when  we  remember  that  the  fringing  islands  protect 
the  junk  routes  from  high  seas,  and  that  the  sweeping  currents 
carry  the  boatman  in  his  desired  direction  at  least  ten  hours  out 
of  the  twenty-four,  however  the  wind  may  sit,  and  when  we 
further  note  that  the  junks  are  so  constructed  that  they  can 
ground  without  danger,  and  that  to  be  stuck  on  a mud-bank  only 
means  a chance  for  so  many  more  pipes  of  tobacco,  we  can  but 
wonder  that  all  the  traffic  does  not  go  by  sea. 

The  ordinary  junk  is  inferior  in  shape  and  general  construc- 
tion to  either  the  Japanese  or  Chinese  craft.  The  cause  of  this 
is  the  fact  that  the  Koreans  have  never  attempted  much  on  the 
open  seas,  but  have  confined  themselves  mostly  to  coastwise 
traffic;  and  even  this  has  been  for  the  most  part  among  islands 
where  there  are  harbours  of  one  sort  or  another  within  a few 
hours’  run  of  any  particular  point.  In  the  matter  of  sailing 
against  the  wind  the  Korean  craft  is  superior  to  either  of  the 
others,  because  it  does  not  stand  nearly  so  far  out  of  the  water, 
and  yet  the  Koreans  cannot  be  said  to  know  how  to  tack.  In 
fact,  the  Korean  junk  is  merely  a larger  edition  of  the  ordi- 
nary river  boat.  It  is  flat  of  bottom,  square  of  end,  and  the 
bottom  curves  up  at  each  end  so  that  it  looks  something  like 
a huge  punt.  It  has  two  masts  which  stand  at  different  angles, 
and  give  the  boat  a general  air  of  having  indulged  in  late  hours. 
The  sails  are  of  the  “ square  ” variety,  simple,  oblong  pieces  of 
rough  cloth  fastened  to  stout  poles  or  “ spars  ” at  each  end. 
A rope  is  knotted  around  the  middle  of  one  of  these  sticks,  and 
the  sail  is  hauled  up  to  the  top  of  the  mast.  Ropes  from  the  two 
ends  of  the  bottom  stick  form  the  “ sheet.”  It  is  evident  that 
such  a primitive  apparatus  would  not  allow  of  sailing  very  close 
to  the  wind.  The  best  that  can  be  said  of  it  is  that  it  helps  to 
counteract  the  retarding  action  of  the  wind  when  the  mariner 
wishes  to  go  with  the  tide.  But  even  so  it  has  been  the  universal 
experience  of  foreigners  that  the  junk-men  prefer  to  anchor 
unless  the  wind  is  with  them.  The  junk  can  make  little  head- 
way against  a four-knot  tide.  It  is  the  same  with  their  financial 


262 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


transactions  as  with  their  boats.  They  must  have  both  capital 
and  “ pull  ” to  secure  a profitable  “ rake-off.”  However  much 
capital  they  may  have,  if  it  is  necessary  to  sail  against  the  tide 
of  influence,  they  are  almost  sure  to  make  shipwreck. 

Innumerable  river  craft  bring  the  produce  of  the  country 
down  to  the  sea,  the  junks  take  it  coast-wise  to  the  mouths  of 
other  rivers,  and  then  river  boats  carry  it  inland  again  to  its 
destination.  A few  of  the  rivers  are  deep  enough  to  float  junks 
that  are  safe  at  sea,  and  so  some  of  the  cargoes  do  not  have  to 
be  broken  out  en  route.  Rice,  barley,  beans,  fish  and  edible  sea- 
weed are  the  usual  cargoes,  but  all  sorts  of  produce  go  to  make 
up  the  total.  Now  that  the  government  has  changed  its  system 
of  taxation  and  takes  money  instead  of  rice,  and  since  the  open- 
ing up  of  regular  steamship  lines  and  railways,  the  traffic  by  junk 
has  shrunken  to  comparatively  small  dimensions.  It  is  said  that 
the  river  traffic  on  the  Naktong  River  inland  from  Fusan  has 
been  ruined  by  the  Seoul-Fusan  Railway,  which  parallels  the 
river.  The  railway  is  cheaper,  swifter  and  safer  in  every  way, 
and  the  temporary  dislocation  in  industrial  conditions  will  finally 
result  in  much  good  to  the  Korean  people. 

There  are  many  kinds  and  names  of  boats  in  Korea,  but  the 
general  pattern  is  the  same.  On  the  eastern  coast,  however,  there 
is  one  style  of  craft  that  differs  radically  from  the  ordinary.  If 
you  should  take  two  ordinary  “ dug-outs,”  tip  them  up  on  edge 
with  their  prows  touching  and  their  sterns  five  feet  apart,  and 
then  nail  planks  across  from  the  lower  inner  side  of  one  to  the 
corresponding  side  of  the  other,  and  complete  it  with  a stern, 
you  would  come  near  this  clumsy  but  withal  effective  craft.  It 
would  be  dangerous  but  for  a sort  of  gunwale  running  around 
the  top  to  keep  out  the  seas.  One  of  the  most  curious  sights  in 
Korea  is  that  of  a loaded  wood-boat  on  the  Tadong  River,  run- 
ning  by  Pyeng-yang.  In  order  to  save  cargo  space  for  the  light 
brushwood,  which  is  enormously  bulky  for  its  weight,  the  entire 
boat  from  stem  to  stern  is  piled  ten  feet  high  with  the  fuel, 
excepting  a tiny  space  just  at  the  prow,  where  two  men  sit  and 


TRANSPORTATION 


263 

row.  From  the  very  centre  of  the  boat  there  rises  a stout  mast 
which  protrudes  a foot  or  so  above  the  load,  and  on  a little  plat- 
form on  the  tip-top  of  this  mast  sits  the  steersman,  holding  in 
his  hand  the  end  of  an  enormously  long  sweep  which  reaches 
into  the  water  at  the  stern.  The  whole  thing  looks  ludicrous 
enough  even  when  the  craft  is  loaded ; but  when  there  is  no  load, 
the  sight  of  two  men  rowing  in  the  very  prow,  while  the  steers- 
man sits  perched  upon  the  very  top  of  the  mast  like  Stylites  on 
his  pillar,  with  a twenty-foot  tiller  in  his  hand,  is  extremely 
grotesque. 

The  Koreans  are  great  travellers  within  the  confines  of  their 
own  little  country.  I doubt  if  there  are  many  lands  where  a 
higher  estimate  is  placed  upon  the  pleasure  of  travel.  The  Kore- 
ans do  not  rush  from  place  to  place  ferreting  out  the  notable 
objects  of  interest,  but  they  wander  about  in  a dreamy  way, 
enjoying  natural  scenery  in  a wholly  natural  manner.  Besides 
this  there  is  the  usual  amount  of  travelling  on  official  business 
and  for  commercial  purposes.  One  wishes  to  know  how  the 
people  get  about  in  the  absence  of  carriages  or  other  vehicles. 

Officials  always  travel  by  “ chair.”  This  consists  of  a little 
four-posted  canopy  about  three  feet  square  by  four  feet  high, 
carried  on  two  poles.  The  passenger  sits  on  the  floor  of  the 
“ chair,”  and  there  are  curtains  to  let  down  on  all  four  sides  so 
as  to  screen  him  entirely  from  view.  Each  of  the  two  carriers 
has  a pair  of  suspenders  over  his  shoulders,  and  through  the 
loops  of  these  on  either  side  of  his  body  the  ends  of  the  poles  pass. 
It  is  not  an  uncomfortable  way  to  travel  if  one  can  sit  cross- 
legged  like  a Turk  for  ten  hours  a day.  There  is  very  little  jar- 
ring if  the  carriers  break  step  as  they  should.  There  is  no  beast 
of  burden  whose  footfall  is  so  soft  as  that  of  a man.  These 
“ chairs  ” are  of  all  degrees  of  elegance,  just  as  our  own  carriages 
are.  Those  that  are  used  by  women  are  of  course  always  closed, 
unless  it  chances  to  be  a dancing  girl.  Women’s  chairs  are  dis- 
tinguished by  fan-shaped  bangles  hanging  in  rows  on  the  sides. 
These  chairs  are  on  hire  at  regular  stands  throughout  all  the 


264 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


Iarg;cr  cities,  but  in  the  country  they  are  more  difficult  to  obtain. 
Alost  well-to-do  gentlemen  keep  their  own  private  chairs.  In 
travelling  long  distances  you  pay  each  carrier  a stated  sum  for 
each  ten  //  of  the  rcKul.  The  four-man  chairs  are  used  only  by 
the  highest  officials.  No  one  of  lesser  degree  than  a cabinet 
minister  is  allowed  to  use  them.  They  are  much  like  the  two- 
man  chair,  hut  the  poles  are  longer,  and  the  cords  that  hold  the 
poles  at  either  end  are  attached  to  a short  stick  that  rests  upon 
the  shoulders  of  the  two  bearers.  I have  never  found  a method 
of  conveyance  more  smooth  or  delightful  than  this  four-man 
chair.  The  coolies  do  not  keep  step,  and  so  the  motion  is  per- 
fecth'  even.  The  elasticity  of  the  poles  add  to  this  effect,  and  no 
railway  car  was  ever  built  luxuriously  enough  nor  were  rails 
ever  laid  true  enough  to  equal  this  delightful  motion.  In  no 
department  of  Korean  life  is  the  wonderful  endurance  of  the 
Korean  more  fully  illustrated  than  in  the  carrying  of  these  chairs. 
If  you  were  in  a hurr>’  to  go  overland  from  Seoul  to  Pyeng-yang, 
a distance  of  about  one  hundred  and  sixty  miles,  you  would  nat- 
urally suppose  that  a good  horse  would  take  you  there  in  the 
quickest  time,  but  there  is  probably  no  horse  in  Korea  that  would 
get  you  to  your  destination  so  quickly  as  the  chair  coolie.  Take 
eight  men  and  pay  them  well  and  you  will  enter  P^-eng-yang  about 
noon  of  the  third  day  out  from  Seoul.  They  will  take  you  four 
miles  an  hour,  sixteen  hours  a day.  Tlie  amount  of  rice  they 
will  consiune  cu  route  is  enormous,  and  they  will  sleep  for  twenty- 
four  hours  after  reaching  the  end  of  the  journey. 

Another  way  of  travelling  is  by  horseback  or  donkey-back. 
Though  the  Korean  horse  is  veiw'  small,  no  Korean  would  think 
of  riding  it  and  sending  his  baggage  by  some  other  conveyance. 
Two  stout  baskets  or  boxes  containing  the  rider's  effects  are 
slung  over  the  back  of  the  horse  and  rest  against  his  sides.  On 
top  of  this  the  traveller's  blankets  and  other  bedding  are  smoothly 
laid.  Tlien  a sort  of  frame,  like  the  back  of  a chair  but  only  eight 
inches  high,  is  placed  on  top  of  all,  and  there  the  man  sits  cross- 
legged  or  with  his  feet  hanging  down.  You  stand  aghast  at  the 


1 \\  O OF  R-OR-i.- 


Mskinc 


/ 


TRANSPORTATION 


265 


manifest  cruelty  of  it,  and  you  wish  that  the  Society  for  the 
Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals  might  take  him  in  hand;  but 
if  you  were  to  try  it  yourself,  and  should  find  that  the  hardy  little 
pony  is  ready  to  carry  you  thirty  miles  a day  as  long  as  you 
wish  to  go,  and  that,  too,  without  any  visible  evidences  of  over- 
fatigue, you  would  change  your  mind.  It  is  true,  however,  that 
the  Koreans  do  treat  their  horses  with  great  cruelty.  They 
cherish  no  sentimental  ideas  about  the  animal;  and  whether  he 
be  lame  or  spavined  or  otherwise  incapable,  he  is  given  the  usual 
load,  and  driven  until  there  is  absolutely  no  more  to  be  gotten 
out  of  him.  The  Korean  donkey  is  a very  tiny  animal,  with  a 
hoof  that  would  go  into  a teacup.  The  rider’s  feet  almost  touch 
the  ground.  There  can  be  but  a very  few  pounds’  difference 
between  the  weight  of  the  animal  and  its  load.  In  this  case  the 
servant  usually  carries  the  baggage  on  his  back  and  trots  along 
behind  his  master. 

But,  for  all  these  different  aids  to  travel,  it  must  be  said  that 
by  far  the  greatest  part  of  it  is  done  on  foot.  The  Korean  is  a 
magnificent  walker.  Every  foreigner  who  has  visited  this  coun- 
try has  been  struck  at  once  by  the  erect  carriage,  the  springy 
gait  and  the  graceful  action  of  the  Korean  in  walking.  In  this 
he  forms  a striking  contrast  to  almost  every  other  denizen  of 
the  Far  East.  He  can  easily  cover  his  thirty  miles  a day,  and 
this  is  all  he  could  do  if  he  had  a mount.  He  has  no  expense 
except  for  his  three  bowls  of  rice  a day,  and  an  occasional  new 
pair  of  straw  shoes.  Thirty  miles  is  his  regular  rate  for  long 
distances,  but  if  necessary  he  can,  and  often  does,  cover  his  fifty 
miles  a day.  Most  Koreans  who  travel  for  mere  pleasure  prefer 
to  go  afoot.  Whether  they  get  more  pleasure  out  of  it  than  we 
do  out  of  our  bicycles,  automobiles  and  other  mile-eaters  is,  of 
course,  a question;  but  it  is  a question  to  which  they,  at  least, 
would  reply  in  the  affirmative  without  hesitation. 

There  are  so  many  islands  off  the  coast  that  the  passenger 
traffic  by  boat  is  very  considerable,  but  people  who  live  on  the 
mainland  seldom  patronise  the  junks,  for  it  is  generally  found 


266 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


that  travel  by  road  is  quicker  and  easier.  The  one  recommenda- 
tion for  the  water  route  was  that  fewer  robbers  would  be  met. 
When  the  Japanese  began  to  run  regular  steamers,  however, 
the  Koreans  very  soon  learned  how  much  quicker,  easier  and 
cheaper  this  form  of  travel  is,  and  at  the  present  time  the  coast- 
wise steamers  carry  crowds  of  natives.  Many  of  these  craft 
are  small  and  obsolete.  Not  a few  of  them  have  doubtless  been 
condemned  in  Japan  and  have  been  brought  over  to  this  country 
where  few  questions  are  asked  and  inspections  are  compara- 
tively rare.  No  limit  seems  to  be  placed  upon  the  number  of 
passengers  that  will  be  booked  for  passage.  I have  seen  little 
steamers  whose  capacity  was  forty  or  fifty  people  loaded  down 
with  a hundred  or  more.  The  cabin  would  be  so  full  that  there 
was  hardly  sitting  space  on  the  floor,  to  say  nothing  of  attempt- 
ing to  lie  down.  These  wheezy  craft  occasionally  blow  up  and 
oftener  strike  an  obstruction  and  founder.  There  is  no  old 
resident  of  Seoul  who  cannot  tell  you  a long  list  of  gruesome 
yarns  about  the  steamers  that  used  to  ply  between  Seoul  and 
Chemulpo  by  the  river  before  the  railroad  was  built.  This 
latter  is  truly  an  eleemosynary  institution,  and  deserves  to  make 
handsome  profits. 

Seoul  boasts  of  one  other  vehicle  which  is  fast  becoming 
obsolete,  but  which  once  formed  a picturesque  addition  to  the 
street  scenery  of  the  capital.  It  is  a one-wheeled  chair.  The 
seat  is  placed  on  two  long  poles,  which  are  supported  at  the 
ends  by  bearers,  but  the  weight  of  the  rider  is  supported  upon 
a sort  of  pedestal  immediately  beneath  the  seat.  This  pedestal 
rests  upon  the  axle  of  a single  iron-bound  and  nail-studded 
wheel  about  two  feet  and  a half  in  diameter.  The  bearers  at 
the  ends  of  the  poles  simply  propel  the  machine  and  keep  it 
from  tipping  from  side  to  side.  It  is  a reasonable  proposition, 
but  at  first  sight  it  affects  the  risibilities  of  the  spectator  with 
irresistible  force.  Only  certain  high  grades  of  officials  are 
allowed  to  make  use  of  this  singular  vehicle. 

During  the  past  few  years  certain  portions  of  the  country 


AUTOMATIC  WATER-MILL 

A beam  balanced  at  the  centre,  with  a trough  on  one  end  and  a pestle 
on  the  other.  The  water  enters  into  the  trough  and  depresses  that  end, 
and  then  flowing  out  because  of  the  depression,  lets  the  pestle  fall  into 
a mortar 


TRANSPORTATION 


267 


liave  enjoyed  postal  and  telegraph  facilities.  One  of  the  few 
successful  enterprises  of  the  government  along  foreign  lines 
was  the  running  of  telegraph  wires  to  some  of  the  important 
■centres  of  the  land  and  to  the  Yalu  River,  where  the  wires  were 
connected  with  the  Chinese  system,  thus  completing  communi- 
cation with  Europe.  This  was  done  some  twenty  years  ago,  but 
the  present  postal  facilities  are  of  much  more  recent  date.  An 
attempt  was  made  to  establish  a sort  of  postal  system  in  1884, 
but  the  severe  disturbances  of  that  year  and  the  return  to  power 
of  the  conservative  element  postponed  the  final  establishment 
of  the  system  until  about  ten  years  ago.  The  question  naturally 
arises  as  to  what  the  Koreans  did  during  all  those  long  cen- 
turies before  the  introduction  of  these  modern  methods.  In  the 
■“  good  old  days  ” there  was  no  need  to  hurry,  except  in  case  of 
very  serious  disturbance  in  the  provinces,  due  to  invasion  or 
rebellion.  If  either  of  these  evils  threatened  the  government, 
it  had  a method  of  learning  about  it  almost  as  soon  as  it  could 
have  done  by  the  modern  telegraph.  The  whole  country  is 
■dotted  with  fire-mountains,  so  situated  that  the  beacon  fires 
flashed  from  peak  to  peak  without  interruption  from  one  end 
of  the  peninsula  to  the  other.  Each  station  was  in  the  care  of 
a keeper,  whose  duty  it  was  to  pass  the  word  along  each  night 
by  flare  of  torch.  Every  evening  the  beacon  fires  flashed  across 
the  valleys  from  the  four  quarters  of  the  land,  and  focussed 
at  the  station  on  Namsan,  or  South  Mountain,  within  the  walls 
of  the  capital.  This  station  was  plainly  visible  from  the  gates  of 
the  palace,  and  each  night  an  official  stood  waiting  the  message. 
When  the  light  flared  up,  he  waited  to  see  whether  more  than 
one  was  to  be  shown.  If  not,  he  carried  to  the  King  the  mes- 
sage that  the  whole  country  was  at  peace.  This  pleasant  sight 
used  to  be  one  of  the  features  of  life  in  Seoul  in  the  old  days, 
but  to-day  the  small  boys  festoon  with  their  kites  the  web  of 
telegraph  wires  that  has  been  woven  over  the  city,  and  the 
uneasy  burr  of  the  telegraph  receiver  has  taken  the  place  of  the 
genial  flash  of  the  evening  beacon. 


268 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


The  old-time  yotigma,  or  horse-relay  system,  was  the  pre- 
cursor of  the  postal  system,  and  it  did  its  work  well  for  over 
fourteen  centuries.  Government  stables  were  established  at  fre- 
quent intervals  along  all  the  main  routes,  and  official  correspond- 
ence went  by  post-horse.  Some  of  us  have  seen  the  messenger 
arrive  at  one  of  these  stations,  dismount  from  his  jaded  animal 
and  leap  into  the  saddle  of  another  mount,  and,  with  a cut  of 
the  whip  and  the  clatter  of  hoofs,  disappear  down  the  road, 
bound  city-ward  or  countrj^-ward  with  some  important  missive. 
The  trouble  with  this  system  was  that  the  common  people  were 
not  allowed  to  use  it.  The  messengers  were,  of  course,  often 
bribed  to  take  private  letters,  but  as  a rule  the  people  made  use 
of  casual  travellers  to  deliver  messages  in  distant  towns.  The 
guild  known  as  the  “ Peddlers’,"  a name  that  has  come  into 
disrepute  during  recent  times,  was  much  utilised  for  the  delivery 
of  letters.  The  wandering  peddlers  covered  the  country  as  a 
network,  and  one  could  very  often  communicate  through  them 
with  distant  friends.  It  hardly  needs  to  be  said  that  the  estab- 
lishment of  steamship  lines  and  the  building  of  railroads  is 
working  wonderful  changes  in  the  Korean’s  ability  to  communi- 
cate with  distant  sections  of  the  country.  In  former  times  it 
took  weeks  to  get  a letter  to  the  northeastern  part  of  the  country, 
but  now  it  is  a matter  of  days  only. 


CHAPTER  XIX 


KOREAN  INDUSTRIES 

predominant  industry  of  Korea,  as  of  most  civ- 
I ilised  countries,  is  agriculture.  The  silent  processes 

H of  nature  make  less  stir  in  the  newspapers,  but  even 

in  such  a feverishly  industrial  country  as  America 
we  find  that  wheat,  corn,  tobacco  and  cotton  are  the  dominant 
factors  of  our  wealth.  But  in  Korea  agriculture  holds  a rela- 
tively higher  place  than  in  most  countries.  They  realise  fully 
that  the  soil  is  the  source  of  wealth,  and  that  the  safest  invest- 
ment is  a good  paddy-field.  It  is  the  farmer  who  is  expected 
to  bear  the  brunt  of  national  taxation,  perhaps  on  the  theory 
that  nature  does  more  than  half  the  work  for  him.  What  would 
life  on  the  farm  be  in  America  if  almost  the  total  revenue  of 
the  country  was  collected  from  the  farmer,  while  the  merchant, 
manufacturer  and  house-owner  went  free?  This  government 
has  always,  and  successfully,  reckoned  upon  the  passionate  love 
of  the  Korean  for  the  soil.  A gentleman  of  the  purest  blood 
can  engage  in  farming  without  soiling  his  escutcheon,  but  to  be 
a merchant  or  manufacturer  or  broker  would  be  beneath  his 
dignity.  Agriculture  is  so  dignified  an  occupation  that  it  stands 
quite  alone  among  Korean  industries. 

The  implements  used  are  of  the  crudest.  The  plough  is 
a very  primitive  affair  with  a single  handle  and  is  drawn  by 
a bullock.  The  ploughshare  is  of  iron,  and  the  work  is  fairly 
effective,  though  subsoiling  is  not  possible.  For  the  most  part 
human  excrement  is  used  as  a fertiliser,  and,  where  this  is  not 
obtainable  in  sufficient  quantities,  grass  or  leaves  are  substituted. 
After  the  ploughing  all  agricultural  processes  are  carried  on  by 
hand,  — cultivating,  reaping,  threshing  and  winnowing.  A study 


2/0 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


of  their  methods  shows  that  the  Koreans  get  the  best  results 
possible  from  the  amount  of  labour  and  capital  expended.  They 
understand  irrigation,  drainage  and  rotation  of  crops. 

In  the  manipulation  of  their  produce  and  in  preparing  it 
for  market  they  show  commendable  skill.  Their  rice  is  nicely 
hulled,  and  sometimes  dusted  with  powdered  kaolin  to  make  it 
white.  They  separate  the  bark  of  flax  and  ramie  by  putting  it 
in  a pit  upon  hot  stones  and  then  pouring  in  water.  For  many 
centuries  the  tough  paper  which  they  make  from  the  bark  of 
the  paper-mulberry  has  been  famous  throughout  the  Far  East, 
and  Alongols  and  Alanchus  always  demanded  large  quantities 
of  it  in  the  lists  of  their  tribute. 

The  Korean  ginseng  has  already  been  described.  Long 
centuries  of  apprenticeship  have  made  the  Korean  an  adept  in 
the  cultivation  and  preparation  of  this  useless  but  highly  prized 
plant.  It  is  a fact  with  which  many  Americans  may  not  be 
acquainted,  that  ginseng  is  consumed  almost  solely  for  its  sup- 
posed aphrodisiac  qualities,  and  the  huge  amounts  produced  in 
America  and  exported  to  China  simply  add  fuel  to  the  basest 
passions  of  man.  It  may  not  be  as  harmful  as  opium,  but  the 
moral  principle  involved  is  precisely  the  same. 

A wild  variety  of  this  plant,  called  “ mountain  ginseng,'’ 
commands  fabulov;s  prices,  and  a large  number  of  people  are 
annually  engaged  in  searching  for  it. 

The  Koreans  liaA’e  developed  a keen  sense  of  the  value  of 
by-products.  The  straw  and  bran  from  their  cereals  are  care- 
fully utilised,  and  in  a general  way  it  may  truthfully  be  said 
that  what  the  Korean  throws  away  is  not  worth  keeping. 

Another  great  Korean  industry  is  that  of  fishing.  Taken  as 
a whole,  the  Koreans  eat  very  little  beef.  Only  the  well-to-do 
can  afford  it,  and  as  you  travel  through  the  country  it  will  be 
only  in  the  larger  centres  that  it  will  be  procurable.  This  will 
readily  appear  when  we  add  that,  though  the  average  wage  of 
the  Korean  is  only  about  one-sixth  as  much  as  that  of  an 
American,  the  cost  of  a cow  or  bull  is  almost  as  much  here 


POULTRY  PEDDLER  HULLING  RICE 


KOREAN  INDUSTRIES 


271 


as  in  our  own  land.  The  Korean  would  no  sooner  think  of 
killing  a good,  strong,  healthy  bull  for  beef  than  the  reader 
would  think  of  killing  a valuable  dog  for  its  pelt.  But  the  con- 
sumption of  fish,  especially  in  its  dried  or  salted  form,  is  very 
great  throughout  the  country.  Off  the  northeast  coast  enormous 
quantities  of  ling  are  caught.  These  are  dried  and  taken  into 
■every  hamlet  in  the  country.  Everywhere  along  the  coast,  and 
in  towns  easily  accessible  therefrom,  fresh  fish  are  largely  con- 
sumed. Everything  is  fish  that  comes  to  the  Korean’s  net ; 
sharks,  cuttle-fish,  sea-slugs  and  all.  They  have  never  developed 
the  enterprise  or  the  daring  to  engage  in  the  lucrative  whale 
fisheries  off  the  eastern  coast,  but  the  Japanese  and  Russians 
have  reaped  golden  harvests  there.  The  former  have  secured 
the  right,  by  concession  from  the  Korean  government,  to  fish 
.anywhere  along  the  Korean  coast,  and  their  brutal  methods  are 
rapidly  driving  the  Koreans  out  of  the  business. 

The  work  of  gathering  and  transporting  fuel  engages  the 
attention  of  many  thousands  of  people.  The  Koreans  differ 
from  the  Japanese  in  that,  while  the  latter  keep  themselves 
warm  by  the  use  of  heavy  blankets,  and  in  winter  are  most  fre- 
quently seen  crouched  about  their  charcoal  braziers,  the  Korean 
heats  his  house  generously  and  depends  upon  his  hot  stone  floor 
for  comfort.  The  effect,  while  perhaps  no  better  from  a hygi- 
enic standpoint,  is  decidedly  more  comfortable.  It  is  also  much 
more  costly.  People  have  wondered  why  Korea  looks  so  barren 
compared  with  Japan.  The  reason  lies  right  here.  Koreans 
keep  their  wood  cut  down  to  the  quick,  to  provide  themselves 
with  fuel,  while  the  Japanese  let  the  forests  grow.  The  Jap- 
anese are  the  more  picturesque,  but  the  Koreans  are  more  com- 
fortable. Wood  forms  but  a small  part  of  Korean  fuel.  The 
■common  people  usually  burn  grass  or  small  fagots.  This  they 
feed  slowly  into  the  fire,  utilising  every  particle  of  the  heat. 
One  firing  in  the  morning  and  one  at  night  suffice  to  cook  the 
food  and  to  keep  the  stone  floor  warm.  One  of  the  most  char- 
acteristic sights  about  Seoul  is  the  long  lines  of  bullocks  and 


272 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


ponies  bringing  in  their  bulky  loads  of  grass  and  fagots.  Every 
morning  and  evening  when  the  fires  are  simultaneously  lighted 
a thick  pall  of  smoke  hangs  over  the  city  for  two  hours  or  more. 
On  still  winter  nights  it  is  so  dense  that  one  is  almost  choked 
by  it,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  prevalent  bronchial  troubles 
are  aggravated  by  this  means.  Everywhere  on  the  hillsides  you 
will  see  boys  scraping  up  the  dead  grass  with  their  ingenious 
bamboo  rakes.  In  Seoul  a man’s  fuel  bill  ordinarily  amounts 
to  about  a quarter  of  his  income.  In  the  country  it  is  of  course 
much  cheaper. 

In  a country  entirely  destitute  of  salt  wells  or  mines,  and 
dependent  upon  the  sea  for  this  great  necessity  of  life,  we  are 
not  surprised  to  learn  that  an  unusually  large  number  of  people 
are  engaged  in  salt-making.  This  is  all  the  more  evident  since 
the  appliances  are  so  poor  and  human  labour  has  to  make  up 
the  deficit. 

On  wide,  flat  plains  near  the  eastern  coast  oblong  fields  are 
prepared  with  ditches  between  them.  Sea-water  is  pumped  or 
ladled  into  these  ditches  and  then  thrown  upon  a loose  brown 
loam,  which  covers  the  hard-packed  surface  of  the  fields  to  a 
depth  of  three  or  four  inches.  As  the  water  evaporates,  it  leaves 
this  brown  loam  satiurated  with  salt.  This  is  then  scraped  into 
piles  and  carried  to  vats  where  the  hea^y  brine  is  drained  off. 
This  brine  is  further  evaporated  in  huge  kettles  made  of  lime 
cement.  The  lime  is  made  by  burning  clam-shells.  As  the 
kettles  are  eight  or  ten  feet  wide  and  very  shallow,  they  are  not 
strong  enough  to  support  their  own  weight ; so,  from  rows  of 
stout  poles  above,  cords  are  let  down  and  fastened  to  hooks 
which  pass  through  the  bottom  of  the  kettle.  Each  kettle  has  a 
score  of  these  hooks.  When  the  brine  is  boiled  down,  the  wet 
crystals  are  scraped  off  and  put  in  bags  for  market.  This  salt 
is  exceedingly  coarse  and  dirty,  but  there  is  no  question  of  its 
saltiness.  Koreans  complain  that. our  salt  is  insipid.  Foreigners 
would  never  use  Korean  salt  if  they  could  once  witness  its 
manufacture.  The  bullocks  and  cows  used  in  the  fields  are 


BOYS  WHO  GATHER  GRASS  FOR  FUEL 
DEAD  CHILD  TIED  TO  TREE 


KOREAN  INDUSTRIES 


273 


continually  defiling  them,  and  no  effort  is  made  to  remove  the 
filth. 

On  the  west  coast  there  are  many  places  where  sea-water 
is  ladled  directly  into  the  kettles  and  boiled  down  without  any 
intermediate  process  of  evaporation. 

Sericulture  is  one  of  the  historic  industries  of  Korea,  and 
can  be  carried  on  by  a gentleman  without  derogation  from  his 
dignity.  The  infrequency  of  thunder-storms  favours  the  in- 
dustry, and  the  product  is  considerable,  though  not  sufficient  to 
figure  in  trade  reports. 

In  textile  industries  Korea  holds  no  very  high  place.  Rough 
cotton,  hemp  and  grass  cloth  are  woven  in  clumsy  hand-looms, 
and  a cheap,  plain  silk  is  produced.  The  dyeing  arrangements 
are  very  crude,  and  the  product  cannot  in  any  sense  be  compared 
with  that  of  China  or  Japan.  Certain  portions  of  the  peninsula 
are  almost  ideal  for  the  production  of  both  cotton  and  silk,  and 
the  time  will  doubtless  come  when  these  important  staples  will 
be  much  more  extensively  cultivated. 

History  and  archaeology  show  that  at  one  time  Korea  pro- 
duced good  examples  of  the  ceramic  art,  but  to-day  only  the 
crudest  work  is  done  in  this  line.  The  same  is  true  of  metal 
castings.  Not  for  many  centuries  has  Korea  cast  a great  bell 
like  those  which  hang  in  various  towns  and  monasteries,  as  elo- 
quent reminders  of  past  and  forgotten  skill. 

The  goldsmiths  and  silversmiths  turn  out  some  interesting 
and  curious  pieces,  but  the  monotony  of  design  and  carelessness 
of  finish  detract  very  greatly  from  their  value,  and  the  apparent 
ignorance  of  the  use  of  alloys  to  harden  the  precious  metals 
lessens  the  usefulness  of  the  product.  A kind  of  bronze  work, 
mostly  in  the  form  of  native  dinner  services,  is  turned  out  in 
considerable  quantities,  but  the  old  work  is  so  much  superior  to 
the  new  that  here  too  we  must  conclude  that  the  handicraft  has 
deteriorated. 

Mining  is  an  industry  as  old  as  history.  Gold  is  found  all 
over  the  peninsula,  and  the  Koreans  mine  it  with  great  enthu- 


2/4 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


siasm.  It  is  mostly  placer  mining,  but  in  the  north  one  fre- 
quently runs  across  more  ambitious  attempts  in  the  shape  of 
shafts.  The  Koreans  build  a fire  on  the  ledge,  and  when  the 
rock  is  hot  they  throw  on  water,  which  cracks  the  quartz  and 
makes  it  possible  to  dig  it  out  with  their  rude  picks.  This 
primitive  method  makes  it  impossible  to  proceed  in  any  but  a 
\ ertical  direction,  and  if  the  vein  should  happen  to  run  obliquely 
it  is  soon  lost.  They  crush  the  ore  beneath  great  round  granite 
boulders,  which  are  rocked  back  and  forth  over  it  by  the  use 
of  levers  or  handles  fastened  to  its  sides.  Only  the  free  gold 
is  obtained,  and  the  waste  is  very  great. 

^^'e  have  it  on  the  authority  of  expert  foreign  miners  that 
gold  is  found  very  irregularly  in  the  Korean  veins.  For  a dis- 
tance it  may  be  very  rich,  and  then  the  vein  will  narrow  to 
almost  nothing  for  many  feet  or  yards  and  then  open  out  again 
freely.  There  seem  to  be  no  great  masses  of  rock  in  which  there 
is  a small  but  even  amount  of  the  yellow  metal,  as  is  the  case 
in  the  Rand  in  South  Africa.  This  makes  Korean  gold-mining 
more  of  a venture  than  in  some  places. 

Absence  from  home  and  distance  from  constabulary  control 
breed  the  same  contempt  for  the  amenities  of  life  among  miners 
here  as  elsewhere. 

In  spite  of  the  fact  that  so  large  a portion  of  the  peninsula 
is  of  granite,  there  are  extensive  portions  where  coal  is  found. 
In  the  vicinity  of  Pyeng-yang  there  are  rich  anthracite  veins, 
and  on  the  east  coast  bituminous  coal  is  found  in  various  places. 
\\dien  properly  opened  up.  these  valuable  resources  will  be  of 
immense  importance  to  the  country. 

Iron  is  not  so  widely  distributed,  but  in  one  considerable 
district  in  Kang-wun  Province  there  are  immense  beds  of  iron 
ore.  The  people  scrape  it  up  from  the  surface  of  the  ground 
and  smelt  it  in  their  rude  furnaces  by  the  use  of  charcoal.  It 
is  used  very  largely  for  their  great  iron  rice-kettles  and  for 
various  agricultural  implements.  For  all  wrought-iron  work  it 
has  been  found  cheaper  to  import  foreign  rod-iron  and  sheath- 


PLACER  GOLD-MINING 


■^ir***^ 


KOREAN  INDUSTRIES 


-7S 

ing.  Foreigners  have  looked  over  this  ground  with  some  care, 
and  they  affirm  that  there  are  practically  unlimited  quantities 
of  the  finest  iron  ore,  awaiting  the  hand  of  modern  scientific 
workmanship. 

Copper,  silver,  lead  and  nickel  are  all  found  in  moderate 
quantities  in  the  peninsula,  but  with  the  exception  of  silver  they 
are  not  of  enough  account  to  warrant  extended  description. 

The  primitive  occupations  of  hunting  and  trapping  still  have 
their  followers  in  Korea.  In  the  north  there  is  a regular  guild 
or  brotherhood  of  tiger-hunters,  and  their  bravery  and  pluck  are 
beyond  dispute.  It  was  from  their  ranks  that  the  garrison  of 
Kang-wha  was  chosen,  which  inflicted  such  punishment  upon  the- 
French  in  1866.  The  chances  which"  these  hunters  take  in  the 
pursuit  of  their  chosen  calling  would  make  your  modern  Nimrod 
stare  with  incredulity.  They  use  old  match-locks,  which  are  dis- 
charged by  letting  the  smouldering  end  of  a thick  cord  fall  into 
the  flash-pan.  This  cord  is  wound  around  the  arm,  and  when 
the  moment  for  action  comes,  the  hunter  blows  upon  the  smoul- 
dering end  and  fastens  it  in  a fork  of  the  hammer,  so  that  when 
the  trigger  is  pulled  there  is  some  small  chance  of  the  thing 
“ going  off.”  One  of  these  hunters  well  described  the  differ- 
ence between  their  antiquated  weapons  and  the  modern  repeat- 
ing rifle: 

“Korean  hunter  meet  tiger.  Bang!  Wreough!  Dead' 
hunter ! Foreign  man  meet  tiger.  Bang  — click  — bang  — 
click  — bang ! Dead  tiger ! ” 

Cobblers,  coopers,  hatters,  farriers,  blacksmiths,  carpenters, 
masons,  joiners,  carvers,  dyers,  tailors,  carters,  saddlers  and  all 
the  other  handicraftsmen  who  go  to  make  up  the  industrial 
army  of  a complicated  civilisation  are  sufficiently  described  by 
their  names.  It  might  be  well  to  add  that  the  tools  which  these 
men  use  are  of  the  most  primitive  kind.  Every  native  nail  is 
hammered  out  by  hand.  Every  yard  of  twine  is  twisted  by 
hand.  This  is  what  insures  the  growth  of  foreign  commerce, 
for  an  American  firm  can  place  nails  on  the  Korean  market 


276 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


at  a price  which  throws  the  native  product  completely  in  the 
shade. 

It  is  this  progressive  displacement  of  native  labour  which 
stirs  up  these  people  and  makes  them  question  the  value  of  their 
former  conservatism. 

GAMES 

Korea  is  no  exception  to  the  rule  that  the  various  nations 
of  the  world  develop  peculiar  and  distinctive  forms  of  amuse- 
ment. There  are  some  forms  that  all  have  in  common,  but 
there  are  others  that  have  only  to  be  mentioned  and  the  hearer 
places  them  at  once.  Of  such  are  cricket,  base-ball,  curling, 
bull-fighting,  skiing  and  lacrosse. 

Korea  also  has  its  own  pet  diversion  — stone-fights.  This 
amusement  is  something  of  an  anomaly,  for  Koreans  are  natur- 
ally the  mildest  and  most  inoffensive  of  people;  but  one  has 
only  to  spend  the  first  month  of  the  year  here  to  learn  that 
the  people  are  as  passionately  fond  of  this  dangerous  sport  as 
Americans  are  of  base-ball. 

The  fact  that  these  fights  occur  only  in  the  first  month  of 
the  year  illustrates  the  general  fact  that  in  no  country  is  the 
periodicity  of  sports  more  marked  than  here.  There  is  a special 
season  for  stone-fights,  kite-flying,  pitch-penny,  swinging,  top- 
spinning and  the  like.  The  reason  why  the  stone-fights  occur 
only  in  spring  is  becai:se  then  only  are  the  fields  bare  and  ample 
space  is  available  for  the  contest.  After  the  winter  has  kept  the 
Korean  imprisoned  for  three  long  months  in  the  cramped  quar- 
ters of  his  little  thatched  hut,  the  touch  of  spring  means  much 
more  to  him  than  it  does  to  us,  who  live  in  comparatively  spa- 
cious houses.  His  dormant  physical  energy^  awakes  to  new  life, 
and  he  simply  must  come  out  and  romp  over  the  hills,  open 
the  safety-valve  and  give  vent  to  his  repressed  faculties.  The 
stone-fight  originated  seven  hundred  years  ago,  in  the  days  of 
the  former  dynasty,  when  it  was  invented  for  the  delectation 
of  an  imbecile  King.  It  was  at  first  confined  to  the  palace 


KOREAN  INDUSTRIES 


2/7 


grounds,  but  it  soon  spread  abroad  and  became  the  national 
game. 

Different  sections  of  the  same  town  may  be  pitted  against 
each  other,  but  more  often  contiguous  villages  defy  each  other 
and  fly  the  banner  of  challenge.  Out  they  pour  into  the  empty, 
fenceless  fields,  some  armed  with  thick  clubs  and  protected  by 
heavy  padded  helmets,  while  others  merely  throw  stones.  The 
champions  of  either  side  prance  up  and  down  before  their 
respective  factions,  twirling  their  clubs  and  breathing  out  threat- 
enings  and  slaughter.  Stones  begin  to  fly,  most  of  them  falling 
short  of  the  mark,  and  the  rest  being  deftly  dodged.  After  the 
two  warring  factions  have  reinforced  their  courage  by  streams 
of  most  libellous  invective,  and  have  worked  themselves  up  to 
the  fighting  pitch,  they  move  toward  each  other  warily,  the  stones 
fly  more  thickly,  the  champions  prance  more  vaingloriously. 
Meanwhile  the  multitudes  of  white-clothed  non-combatants, 
who  cover  the  surrounding  hills,  shout  encouragement  to  their 
respective  favourites.  The  champions  gradually  close  with  each 
other  and  give  and  receive  sounding  thwacks  on  the  head  or 
shoulder,  while  over  them  the  stones  fly  thick  and  fast.  Sud- 
denly a deafening  yell  goes  up  from  one  side  and  a wild  charge 
is  made.  The  opposite  side  gives  way,  and  it  looks  as  if  the  day 
were  won,  but  as  soon  as  the  first  ardour  of  the  pursuit  is  over 
the  fugitives  turn  and  make  a counter-charge.  Unlucky  is  the 
wight  who  is  overtaken  before  he  gains  the  thick  of  his  own 
ranks  again.  And  so  it  goes  on  by  the  hour,  rush  and  counter- 
rush, wild  shoutings  of  delighted  spectators,  clouds  of  dust, 
broken  pates,  profanity  unlimited  and  gruesome  gaps  where 
erstwhiles  were  gleaming  teeth.  The  excitement  is  much  the 
same  as  that  of  the  Spanish  bull-fight,  and  the  same  fierce,  ele- 
mental passions  are  let  loose  in  participants  and  spectators  alike. 
Rarely  does  a season  pass  but  three  or  four  men  are  killed  in 
these  encounters,  but  if  the  excitement  runs  too  high  the  police 
or  gendarmes  are  likely  to  interfere.  In  the  heat  of  action 
houses  are  sometimes  razed,  but  as  a usual  thing  the  fight 


2/8 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


results  only  in  bruised  arms,  broken  heads  and  unlimited  invec- 
tive. The  heaviest  traffic  on  the  electric  tramway  is  when  the 
crowds  go  out  of  the  city  gates  to  watch  these  stone-fights.  One 
day  last  year  thirty-four  thousand  people  were  carried,  a num- 
ber twice  as  large  as  the  average.  It  would  be  safe  to  say  that 
in  the  environs  of  Seoul  twenty-five  thousand  persons  witnessed 
the  fights  that  day. 

Kite-flying  is  a national  institution  here  as  in  China  and 
Japan.  The  kites  are  not  so  elaborate  as  in  the  neighbouring 
countries,  but  the  interest  in  the  sport  is  fully  as  great,  for  there 
are  what  may  be  called  kite-fights  that  are  very  exciting.  By 
dextrous  manipulation  the  rival  kite-fliers  get  their  strings 
crossed.  Then  comes  the  contest  of  pure  skill,  to  see  which 
can  saw  the  string  of  the  other  in  two  first.  You  see  the  tiny 
kites  high  in  the  air  darting  this  way  and  that,  seemingly  with- 
out rhyme  or  reason,  but  all  the  time  their  owners  are  manceu- 
vring  for  position,  just  as  rival  yachtsmen  do  in  our  own  land. 
When  one  of  them  thinks  that  the  right  moment  has  arrived, 
he  makes  his  kite  dash  across  the  path  of  the  other  and  clinch 
in  the  final  struggle.  Sooner  or  later  one  of  the  strings  is  cut, 
and  the  liberated  kite  floats  away  on  the  breeze,  followed  by  a 
crowd  of  eager  boys.  The  kites,  though  scientifically  con- 
structed, cost  but  very  little,  but  the  cord  must  be  of  the  finest, 
and  it  must  be  smeared  with  a kind  of  paste  mixed  with  pul- 
^'erised  glass.  This  makes  it  better  able  to  saw  the  other  cord 
in  two. 

The  next  most  popular  amusement  is  pitch-penny,  at  which 
all  the  boys  play  “ for  keeps.”  A shallow  hole  is  scraped  in  the 
liard  earth  beside  the  road,  and  the  first  player  stands  off  ten 
feet  or  more  and  pitches  half  a dozen  coins  at  the  hole.  Any 
that  lodge  in  it  are  his ; but  there  is  more  to  do.  The  other  boy 
indicates  which  of  the  thrown  coins  he  is  to  hit  with  a leaden 
disc,  which  is  used  for  this  purpose.  The  player  throws,  and  if 
he  hits  that  particular  coin,  all  are  his,  but  if  he  misses,  the  other 
boy  takes  his  turn.  This  too  is  a spring  sport,  and  at  that  season 


AN  ARCHERY  TOURNAMENT 


KOREAN  INDUSTRIES 


2/9 


you  will  frequently  see  two  lines  of  interested  spectators  watch- 
ing intently  to  see  some  skilful  thrower  make  a good  shot  down 
the  narrow  alley  between  them. 

On  the  great  festival  of  the  fifth  day  of  the  fifth  moon 
Koreans  give  themselves  up  to  the  delights  of  swinging.  Some- 
times the  lofty  branch  of  a pine-tree  is  used,  but  more  often 
two  great  poles  are  erected  for  the  purpose.  These  are  held  in 
place  by  guys,  and  are  variously  ornamented.  The  Koreans 
are  adventurous  swingers,  and  accidents  are  not  infrequent.  The 
rough  straw  ropes  break  sooner  or  later,  and  someone  gets  a 
nasty  fall,  which  terminates  the  sport  for  that  season. 

Girls  take  pleasure  in  a sort  of  see-saw  on  the  15th  of  the 
first  month.  This  is  not  the  same  as  ours.  The  board  is  only 
six  or  seven  feet  long  and  is  laid  over  a fulcrum  only  five 
inches  high.  The  girls  stand  on  the  ends  and  jump  up  and 
down,  the  impact  of  each  throwing  the  other  several  feet  into 
the  air.  They  would  not  be  able  to  preserve  their  equilibrium 
except  for  a strong  cord,  like  a clothes-line,  over  their  heads,  to 
which  they  cling.  On  this  same  festival  there  are  mighty  tugs- 
of-war  in  the  country  villages.  The  ropes  are  huge  hawsers, 
eight  or  ten  inches  thick,  and  upwards  of  a hundred  feet  long. 
The  village  turns  out  en  masse,  men,  women  and  children,  and 
pull  until  they  are  exhausted.  This  always  takes  place  at  night 
under  the  full  moon. 

In  the  autumn  and  winter  the  favourite  sport  of  the  young 
men  is  a sort  of  battledore  and  shuttlecock.  The  shuttlecock  is 
a cash  piece  wrapped  in  paper,  the  latter  being  twisted  into  a 
tail  which  makes  the  shuttlecock  always  fall  properly.  Strangely 
enough,  the  Koreans  use  the  side  of  the  foot  for  a battledore, 
and  to  unaccustomed  eyes  it  looks  ridiculous  enough  to  see  two 
men  hopping  about  on  one  foot,  trying  to  keep  the  shuttlecock 
in  the  air.  This  is  a purely  Korean  development  of  this  game. 

They  are  very  fond  of  trying  feats  of  strength  in  what  they 
call  “ arm  wrestling.”  The  two  contestants  sit  down  at  a table 
and  place  their  elbows  squarely  upon  it.  Then  they  grasp  each 


28o 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


other’s  thumbs,  and  each  man  tries  to  bend  the  arm  of  the  other 
over  backward  until  it  touches  the  table.  This  is  a genuine  and 
severe  test  of  strength,  as  anyone  will  discover  by  trying  it. 

Hide-and-seek  and  blind-man’s-buff  are  common,  and  little 
girls  go  about  with  wooden  or  rag  dolls  strapped  to  their  backs 
like  true  babies.  Jack-stones,  fox-and-geese,  cat’s  cradle  and 
other  juvenile  games  are  also  played. 

As  for  sedentary  games,  the  chief  places  are  occupied  by 
chess  and  padok.  In  a very  general  way  their  chess  resembles 
ours,  but  the  board  is  somewhat  different,  and  the  rules  are 
so  changed  that  knowledge  of  one  method  does  not  help  in 
playing  the  other.  The  game  of  padok  is  far  more  difficult  than 
either  Korean  or  European  chess.  It  consists  in  enclosing  spaces 
on  a wide  go-bang  board  with  white  and  black  discs.  The  fore- 
sight and  the  mathematical  ability  required  to  play  this  game 
successfully  are  astonishing.  It  is  a Chinese  invention,  and 
surely  does  credit  to  its  inventor.  Poe  says  that  the  game  of 
draughts  requires  a higher  quality  of  mind  than  chess,  but 
padok,  while  requiring  the  same  kind  of  skill  as  draughts,  is 
probably  ten  times  as  difficult. 

For  gambling  purposes  Koreans  use  dominoes  and  “ cards,” 
the  latter  being  made  of  stiff  oiled  paper  half  an  inch  wide  and 
eight  inches  long.  Coolies  on  the  street  coi'ners,  waiting  for  a 
job,  while  away  the  time  playing  a game  that  is  a cross  between 
backgammon  and  fox-and-geese,  scratching  the  necessary  lines 
on  the  hard  earth  in  lieu  of  a “ board.”  If  you  see  half  a dozen 
heads  together,  'you  will  know  that  a game  is  in  progress,  and 
that  the  stakes  are  high,  perhaps  even  five  cents.  As  each  man 
throws  the  dice,  he  gives  his  thigh  a resounding  slap.  This  is 
supposed  to  bring  luck,  just  as  we  have  seen  people  in  more 
enlightened  lands  murmur  fond  entreaties  into  the  dice-box 
before  throwing. 

These  are,  of  course,  not  all  the  games  Koreans  play,  but 
they  are  the  commonest  and  most  distinctive. 


CHAPTER  XX 


DOMESTIC  AND  FOREIGN  TRADE 

UNTIL  recent  years  the  currency  of  Korea  was  only 
the  unwieldy  cash,  and  this  had  much  to  do  in  pre- 
serving the  immemorial  custom  of  barter.  Even 
to-day  this  form  of  trade  has  by  no  means  ceased, 
and  many  Koreans  still  look  upon  rice  or  cotton  or  linen  as  legal 
tender.  We  have  already  explained  that  in  the  country  there 
are  stated  places  where  periodical  markets  are  held.  There  are 
but  few  Koreans  who  cannot  find  one  of  these  chang  within  ten 
miles  of  their  homes.  As  a rule,  these  are  held  once  in  five  days ; 
but  there  are  many  special  markets  for  special  objects.  Almost 
every  Korean  product  has  its  special  season.  The  agricultural 
products  are  naturally  more  in  evidence  in  the  summer  and 
autumn.  Almost  all  farmers  add  to  their  income  by  some  sort 
of  handicraft  during  the  winter,  and  the  products  of  such  work 
are  on  sale  during  the  winter  and  spring  months. 

For  long  centuries  there  existed  a Peddlers’  Guild,  composed 
of  thousands  of  men  throughout  the  country  who  travelled  on 
foot  with  packs  on  their  backs,  and  peddled  their  goods  from 
house  to  house.  They  had  regular  circuits,  and  their  organi- 
sation was  quite  complete.  In  later  times  this  guild  fell  into 
decay,  and  was  superseded  by  a gang  of  evil  men  who  were  used 
by  corrupt  officials  to  do  questionable  work.  They  were  not 
peddlers,  and  the  unsavoury  reputation  of  the  “ Peddlers’  Guild  ” 
should  not  attach  to  the  genuine  peddlers. 

It  was  mainly  throvtgh  the  markets  and  the  peddlers  that 
domestic  trade  was  carried  on  in  the  country.  In  the  great 
centres  ordinary  shops  were  common,  and  almost  every  com- 
modity was  handled  by  a separate  guild.  The  freemasonry  of 


282 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


trade  reached  extensive  bounds.  Many  of  these  guilds  were,  and 
are,  incipient  or  partial  insurance  companies,  and  loss  by  fire 
or  death  became  a matter  of  mutual  aid.  These  guilds  were 
taxed,  not  regularly,  but  as  occasion  might  demand.  Whenever 
some  sudden  pressure  was  put  on  the  royal  household  for  money, 
a draft  upon  the  guilds  was  always  honoured. 

Korean  shops  are  of  two  kinds,  open  and  closed ! The  ordi- 
nary shop  is  hardly  more  than  a stall,  open  directly  upon  the 
street,  where  the  purchaser  can  pick  up  and  examine  almost  any 
article  in  stock.  The  larger  merchants,  however,  who  handle 
silks,  cotton,  linen,  grass-cloth,  shoes  and  certain  other  goods, 
have  nothing  whatever  on  view.  You  enter  and  ask  for  what 
you  want,  and  it  is  brought  forth  from  the  storeroom  or  closet. 
This  seems  very  strange  to  foreigners,  who  always  want  to  com- 
pare and  select  their  goods.  Often  enough  a truculent  merchant, 
after  showing  one  shade  of  silk,  will  refuse  to  show  more,  and 
say  that  if  this  is  not  what  you  want  he  has  nothing  that  will 
suit  you.  You  are  expected  to  state  exactly  what  you  want, 
and  when  that  is  produced  and  examined,  the  price  alone  is 
expected  to  require  consideration.  Shopping  in  Korea  is  not 
reckoned  one  of  the  joys  of  life,  as  is  so  often  the  case  in  the 
West.  When  ladies  of  the  upper  class  wish  to  make  purchases 
of  silk  or  other  goods,  they  send  out  and  have  the  merchants 
bring  the  goods  to  their  residences.  All  foreigners  who  are 
aware  of  the  peculiarities  of  the  Korean  merchants  do  likewise. 

The  great  merchant  houses  in  Seoul  have  no  shop-signs 
whatever,  but  instead  of  this  they  have  runners  or  agents  on  the 
street  who  solicit  the  attention  of  the  passer-by  and  ask  him  to 
come  in  and  look  at  the  goods. 

The  sale  and  purchase  of  real  estate  in  large  towns  is  always 
effected  through  house-brokers,  but  fields  change  hands  ^•ery 
commonly  by  direct  communication  between  the  parties  inter- 
ested. The  legal  rate  of  commission  to  the  broker  is  one  per 
cent  of  the  purchase  price  of  the  house,  and  is  paid  by  the  seller. 
The  purchaser  furnishes  two  pounds  of  tobacco  to  be  consumed 


AN  INTERESTING  CHESS  PROBLEM 


DOMESTIC  AND  FOREIGN  TRADE 


283 


during  the  progress  of  negotiations.  There  is  a House-brokers’ 
Guild,  and  the  name  of  each  member  is  registered  at  the  mayor’s 
office.  If  a broker  falsifies  the  amount  demanded  by  the  seller 
and  “ eats  ” the  extra  money,  he  is  very  likely  to  be  found  out, 
in  which  case  he  will  be  expelled  from  the  guild  and  his  license 
will  be  taken  away. 

The  rate  of  interest  is  everywhere  proportionate  to  the  safety 
of  the  investment.  For  this  reason  we  find  that  in  Korea  money 
ordinarily  brings  from  two  to  five  per  cent  a month.  Good 
security  is  generally  forthcoming,  and  so  one  may  well  ask  why 
it  is  so  precarious  to  lend.  The  answer  is  not  creditable  to 
Korean  justice.  In  case  a man  has  to  foreclose  a mortgage  and 
enter  upon  possession  of  the  property  he  will  need  the  sanction 
of  the  authorities,  since  possession,  here  as  elsewhere,  is  nine 
points  of  the  law.  The  trouble  is  that  a large  fraction  of  the 
remaining  point  is  dependent  upon  the  caprice  or  the  venality 
of  the  official  whose  duty  it  is  to  adjudicate  the  case.  In  a land 
where  bribery  is  almost  second  nature,  and  where  private  rights 
are  of  small  account  unless  backed  up  by  some  sort  of  influence, 
the  thwarting  of  justice  is  extremely  common.  And  so  the  best 
apparent  security  may  prove  only  a broken  reed  when  the  creditor 
comes  to  lean  upon  it.  Let  us  take  a concrete  case.  A man  bor- 
rows a sum  of  money,  giving  his  house-deed  as  security.  He 
then  makes  out  a false  deed  or  secures  a new  one  from  the  Alayor 
on  the  plea  that  the  old  one  is  lost.  He  then  sells  the  house  to 
a third  party  and  leaves  for  parts  unknown.  The  mortgage 
becomes  due  and  the  mortgagee  proceeds  to  foreclose.  It  is 
now  a question  of  which  deeds  are  the  right  ones.  There  should 
be  no  difficulty  in  adjudicating  the  case,  but  the  occupant,  having 
purchased  in  good  faith,  is  naturally  loath  to  move  out.  He  is 
willing  to  put  down  a neat  sum  to  secure  his  possession.  It  all 
depends  upon  the  character  of  the  official  and  is  no  longer  a 
matter  of  mere  jurisprudence.  Herein  lies  the  uncertainty. 

When  money  is  loaned  at  the  minimum  rate  of  two  per  cent, 
or  in  exceptional  cases  one  and  a half  per  cent  a month,  the 


284 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


borrower,  besides  giving  security,  generally  gets  some  well- 
known  and  reliable  merchant  to  endorse  the  note.  As  this  mer- 
chant cannot  afford  to  have  his  credit  brought  in  question,  the 
chances  of  loss  are  very  small. 

Considering  the  great  inequality  in  commercial  ethics  here,  the 
Koreans  trust  each  other  in  a really  remarkable  manner.  The 
aggregate  of  money  placed  in  trust  is  very  large.  The  average 
Korean  would  scorn  to  ask  from  his  friend  more  than  a simple 
receipt  for  money  turned  over  in  trust,  and  it  is  my  deliberate 
conviction  that  in  all  but  a small  fraction  of  cases  the  ordinary 
sense  of  justice  and  decency  is  a far  greater  deterrent  to  indi- 
rection than  any  legal  restraints  could  possibly  be. 

Foreign  commerce  has  been  carried  on  for  many  centuries 
between  Korea  and  the  neighbouring  countries.  It  is  not  true 
that  Korea  was  first  opened  to  import  and  export  trade  during 
the  present  generation.  Commerce  with  China  has  been  almost 
uninterrupted  for  fifteen  hundred  years,  though  it  has  been 
carried  on  in  such  a quiet  way  as  largely  to  escape  observation. 
Ginseng,  furs  and  other  special  products  have  been  regularly 
marketed  in  China,  and  silks,  spices  and  other  luxuries  have 
been  as  regularly  imported.  The  annual  embassy  to  Peking 
was  allowed  to  engage  in  trade. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  peninsula  the  annual  trade  with 
Japan  through  the  single  station  at  Fusan  was  considerable,  and 
was  almost  uninterrupted  from  about  1406  till  1866,  and  even 
before  the  opening  of  the  fifteenth  century  there  must  have  been 
some  interchange  of  goods  between  the  two  countries,  although 
the  Japanese  freebooters  of  the  fourteenth  century  did  much  to 
keep  the  two  countries  from  mutual  intercourse. 

It  is  a fact  to  which  attention  should  be  specially  directed,  that 
before  the  coming  of  Roman  Catholic  emissaries  to  Korea,  and 
the  consequent  fear  that  the  foreign  religion  was  a cover  for  polit- 
ical designs,  this  was  no  more  a hermit  kingdom  than  was  Japan 
or  China.  The  efforts  which  both  these  other  countries  made  to 
keep  foreigners  out  were  more  persistent  and  more  radical  than 


DOMESTIC  AND  FOREIGN  TRADE  285 

anything  which  has  occurred  in  Korea.  It  is  merely  the  fact  that 
Korean  exclusiveness  was  impinged  upon  somewhat  later  in  the 
day  that  won  for  her  the  term  “ hermit.”  The  difficulties  encoun- 
tered in  opening  up  this  country  to  foreign  intercourse  were 
nothing  compared  with  those  required  to  secure  the  acquiescence 
of  either  Japan  or  China  to  such  action.  I am  prepared  to  say 
that  the  conservatism  of  the  Korean  has  always  been  less  than 
that  of  the  Chinese.  This  is  simply  a sociological  manifestation 
of  the  law  of  inertia.  The  late  regent  never  cherished  a fonder 
hatred  against  foreigners  than  did  Prince  Tuan,  and  no  Korean 
ruler  of  the  past,  if  brought  to  life,  would  exterminate  them  with 
greater  glee  than  would  the  present  Empress  Dowager  of  China, 
had  she  but  the  ability.  * 

It  was  between  the  years  1876  and  1884  that  Korea  was  fully 
opened  to  foreign  commerce  in  our  western  acceptance  of  the 
term.  From  the  very  first  the  trade,  both  import  and  export,  has 
shown  a steady  and  healthy  growth.  The  Korean  was  very 
quick  to  learn  the  value  of  Manchester  cottons,  American  petro- 
leum and  Japanese  friction  matches,  and  now  all  these  and  many 
other  products  of  other  countries  find  their  way  to  the  remotest 
parts  of  the  peninsula. 

This  import  trade  owes  very  much  to  the  excellent  way 
in  which  the  Customs  has  been  handled.  From  the  very  first 
it  has  been  in  English  hands.  One  has  only  to  look  at  Turkey 
to  see  how  different  the  status  of  foreign  trade  might  be  in 
Korea  had  the  customs  duties  been  collected  by  Korean  or  by 
any  other  Far  Eastern  people.  It  was  a sad  day  for  this 
country  when  the  English  hand  was  removed  from  the  helm  in 
favour  of  the  Japanese. 

We  can  here  give  only  the  briefest  sketch  of  the  export  and 
import  trade  of  the  country.  The  minutiae  are  of  interest  only 
to  the  statistician.  For  the  past  four  years  the  value  of  the 
exports  has  averaged,  in  round  numbers,  $4,000,000.  This  does 
not  include  gold  bullion,  which  has  been  about  $2,500,000  a year. 

The  goods  exported  are,  in  order  of  their  value,  beans,  rice, 


^86 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


cowhides,  ginseng,  raw  cotton,  fish,  whale  flesh  and  blubber, 
paper,  sea-weed  and  barley.  Other  things  which  figure  promi- 
nently are  beche-de-mer,  bones,  cattle,  feathers,  mats,  medicines, 
millet,  oysters,  sesamum,  raw  silk,  tallow,  tobacco,  wheat,  copper, 
curios  and  grass-cloth. 

The  value  of  foreign  imports  in  1901  and  1902  was  about  the 
same,  namely,  about  $3,750,000;  for  1903  it  was  $5,750,000,  and 
for  1904  it  was  $8,800,000.  The  great  increase  in  1904  was  due 
to  the  import  of  $2,000,000  worth  of  railway  material  for  use  in 
the  construction  of  the  new  lines.  Then,  in  order  of  value,  come 
English  and  American  gray  shirtings,  Japanese  sheetings,  Jap- 
anese miscellaneous  cotton  goods,  Japanese  thread  and  yarn,  silk 
piece  goods,  tobacco,  English  and  American  sheetings,  American 
petroleum,  English  and  American  white  shirtings,  rice,  clothing, 
provisions,  timber  and  sake.  After  these  come  figured  shirtings, 
cotton  reps,  bar  and  other  iron,  galvanised  iron  sheeting,  bags 
and  ropes,  building  materials,  coal,  raw  cotton,  cotton  wadding, 
dyes,  fish,  flour,  fruit,  grain,  grass-cloth,  wines  and  spirits, 
matches,  medicines,  mining  supplies,  Russian  petroleum,  paper, 
porcelain,  salt,  soy,  sugar  and  telegraph  and  telephone  supplies. 

Up  to  the  present  time  both  the  import  and  export  trade  have 
suffered  for  lack  of  facilities  for  transportation  in  the  interior; 
but  the  railroads  that  are  being  rapidly  constructed  will  help  to 
overcome  this  difficulty,  and  foreign  commerce  ought  to  receive 
a decided  impetus. 

Of  late  years,  Japanese  textile  fabrics  have  been  competing 
successfully  with  the  English  and  American,  and  bid  fair  in  time 
to  displace  them  even  as  Japanese  matches  have  displaced  the 
Austrian  product.  This  readjustment  of  the  sources  of  Korea's 
foreign  supplies  is  the  most  prominent  feature  of  the  commercial 
situation  to-day.  There  seems  to  be  a natural  fitness  in  the 
mutual  interchange  of  raw  material  and  finished  product  between 
the  two  countries,  and  tliere  is  every  sign  that  Japan  will  foster 
and  conserve  this  growing  reciprocity  by  every  means  in  her 
power.  If  American  cotton  goods  are  to  compete  with  Japanese 


SWINGING 


DOMESTIC  AND  FOREIGN  TRADE 


287 


here,  it  must  be  because  better  goods  are  offered  at  the  same  price 
or  the  same  goods  at  a lower  price.  This  supposes  other  things 
to  be  equal,  but  in  fact  other  things  are  not  equal.  An  army  of 
Japanese  small  retailers  covering  the  country  like  a network, 
unable  to  speak  or  read  any  language  but  their  own,  and  con- 
nected intimately  with  Japanese  sources  of  supply,  make  it  certain 
that  Japanese  goods  will  be  handled  unless  some  very  strong 
consideration  intervenes  of  a distinctly  pecuniary  nature.  There 
is  a single  American  firm  in  Korea  handling  general  goods,  but 
it  is  particularly  interested  only  in  petroleum  and  rice.  In  other 
words,  America  enjoys  only  the  very  smallest  facilities  for  com- 
mercial contact  with  Korea.  Our  merchants  hardly  need  to  be 
told  that  much  more  enters  into  successful  trade  competition  than 
the  mere  quality  and  price  of  goods.  They  must  be  properly 
exhibited,  advertised  and  placed  before  the  public.  The  personal 
equation  enters  largely  into  the  problem,  and  under  existing  con- 
ditions it  is  only  a matter  of  time  when  the  great  staples  of 
American  commerce  will  be  known  here  only  by  name.  There 
is  to-day  a magnificent  opening  for  any  firm  that  will  import 
Oregon  pine  into  Korea  by  sailing-vessel  or  other  cheap  method 
of  transportation.  All  planing  and  moulding  is  here  done  by 
hand  at  great  expense.  Planed  and  matched  flooring  would  have 
large  and  lucrative  sale.  We  say  this  to  indicate  only  one  of  a 
large  number  of  favourable  openings  that  might  be  entered  by 
enterprising  people.  The  large  and  steady  influx  of  Japanese 
must  continue  for  years,  and  building  operations  which  are  being 
carried  on  with  feverish  energy  will  call  for  increasing  quan- 
tities of  material  from  abroad,  especially  timber.  If  Americans 
want  to  participate  in  this  trade,  they  should  enter  the  field  and 
secure  a footing  before  the  commercial  flux  has  crystallised. 


CHAPTER  XXI 


MONUMENTS  AND  RELICS 

IN  a country  whose  legendary  history  stretches  back  four 
thousand  years,  one  would  expect  to  find  many  monuments 
and  relics  of  the  past,  and  in  Korea  we  are  not  disappointed. 
None  of  these  take  the  form  of  buildings  in  which  men 
lived  or  worshipped.  The  style  of  architecture  of  the  whole  Far 
East  is  of  a kind  that  does  not  last  beyond  a few  hundred  years 
without  undergoing  such  extensive  repairs  as  to  constitute  a 
virtual  rebuilding  of  the  edifice.  So,  while  we  will  not  look  for 
any  temples  like  those  of  ancient  Eg>^pt,  we  will  not  despair  of 
finding  other  remains  of  almost  equal  antiquity. 

The  oldest  monument  in  Korea,  so  far  as  we  can  ascertain, 
is  the  Altar  of  Tangun,  erected  on  the  very  summit  of  the  highest 
peak  on  the  island  of  Kangwha,  j\Iari-san.  The  Tangun  is  the 
fabled  King  who  began  his  rule  in  Korea  over  two  thousand 
years  before  Christ.  He  is  supposed  to  have  erected  this  altar 
whereon  to  worship  his  own  divine  father,  Whanin.  It  is  impos- 
sible to  guarantee  the  genuineness  of  the  tradition ; but  sure  it 
is  that  all  down  through  the  recorded  histoiy  of  the  country  we 
read  that  at  intervals  of  about  a century  money  has  been  appro- 
priated for  the  repair  of  this  most  ancient  relic.  Its  immense 
age  is  beyond  question.  It  consists  of  a walled  enclosure  thirty 
feet  square,  perched  upon  the  sharp  point  of  the  bare,  rocky 
mountain  peak.  On  one  side  of  the  enclosure  rises  the  altar,  about 
sixteen  feet  square  and  eight  feet  high,  the  ascent  to  the  top 
being  accomplished  by  means  of  a stone  stairway.  The  founda- 
tion stones  and  the  first  few  courses  give  evidence  of  extreme 
age.  They  are  as  moss-grown  and  seamed  by  time  as  the  native 
rock  of  the  mountain  from  which  they  seem  to  grow.  The  upper 


MONUMENTS  AND  RELICS 


289 


courses  are  apparently  of  more  recent  structure,  and  yet  old  com- 
pared with  O'Ur  most  venerable  European  structures.  Only  the 
top  itself  has  apparently  been  restored  during  the  past  five  cen- 
turies. Standing  upon  this  altar-crowned  summit,  as  the  ocean 
wind  drives  the  clouds  across  the  serrated  tops  of  the  rugged 
range  one  tries  to  imagine  himself  back  in  the  days  of  Abraham, 
when  Tangun  stood  by  and  directed  the  building  of  this  heaven- 
touching altar,  and  the  flames  leaped  high  about  his  burning 
hecatombs.  The  mind  faints  in  the  effort  to  grasp  the  meaning 
of  four  thousand  years.  Not  even  China  herself,  that  synonym 
of  Cyclopean  age,  can  show  as  ancient  and  authentic  a memento 
of  the  past. 

Near  this  altar,  but  on  another  spur  of  the  mountain,  is  the 
walled  fortress  supposed  to  have  been  built  by  the  three  sons  of 
Tangun.  It  is  occupied  to-day  by  a Buddhist  monastery,  show- 
ing how  the  magpie  may  inherit  the  eagle’s  nest.  Here  it  was 
that  the  Korean  tiger-hunters  congregated  at  the  time  the  French 
landed  on  Korean  soil  in  1866,  and  it  was  from  these  ancient 
battlements  that  they  drove  back  what  they  supposed  to  be  the 
mortal  enemies  of  their  fatherland.  In  the  town  of  Kangdong 
in  the  north,  there  is  a mound  four  hundred  and  ten  feet  in 
circumference,  which  is  believed  to  contain  all  that  is  mortal  of 
that  first  great  ruler,  Tangun.  In  Munwha  there  is  a shrine  to 
the  Korean  trinity,  Whanin,  Whanung  and  Tangun,  the  first 
being  the  creator,  the  second  his  son,  and  the  third  his  earthly 
incarnation.  Our  interest  in  the  story  is  enhanced  by  the  fact 
that  he  came  to  earth  in  the  form  of  a wind,  and  was  incarnated 
through  the  medium  of  a virgin. 

Compared  with  Tangun,  Kija  seems  almost  modern,  though 
in  truth  he  antedated  David  of  Israel.  The  site  of  his  ancient 
capital  is  pointed  out  beside  the  modern  city  of  Pyeng-yang,  and 
before  the  Chinese  tore  it  up  for  breastworks  in  the  war  of  1894, 
the  situation  of  the  streets  of  that  capital  were  plainly  seen, 
marked  out  on  the  plain  with  almost  the  regularity  of  a Western 
American  town.  In  the  middle  of  it  is  Kija’s  Well,  believed  to 


290 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


have  been  dug  at  his  command.  Koreans  affirm  that  a jar  of  its 
Avaters  weighs  a pound  more  than  a similar  amount  of  water 
from  any  other  well  in  the  land.  The  modern  city  has  no  wells 
at  all,  because  the  people  have  the  notion  that  the  city  is  like  a 
boat,  and  that  to  dig  a well  would  scuttle  the  craft.  The  illusion 
is  made  the  more  complete  by  a great  stone  post  set  in  the  bank 
of  the  Tadong  River  above  the  town,  for  to  this  post  the  boat  is 
supposed  to  be  moored.  Near  the  city  is  found  the  grave  of 
Kija  with  its  stone  images  set  about  like  guardian  beasts,  and 
there  is  a tablet  partly  defaced  which  claims  to  date  from  that 
ancient  time. 

Coming  south  to  the  site  of  the  capital  of  ancient  Silla,  the 
modern  town  of  Kyong-ju,  we  find  multiplied  relics  of  the 
remote  past,  for  even  Silla  began  before  the  coming  of  Christ 
and  reached  her  prime  before  the  days  of  Constantine  the  Great. 
Near  this  ancient  town  we  find  a numerous  cluster  of  huge 
mounds,  each  the  mausoleum  of  a King  of  Silla.  They  will  be 
found  to  be  several  hundred  feet  in  circumference  and  about 
seventy-five  feet  high.  If  we  should  dig  into  one  of  them,  we 
should  probably  find  the  ashes  of  the  dead  King  flanked  on 
either  side  by  that  of  a young  maiden,  who  was  compelled  to 
drink  the  bitter  cup  of  death  before  her  time  in  order  to  grace 
the  obsequies  of  a monarch.  This  we  know  by  inference,  for 
one  of  the  later  Kings  gave  specific  orders  that  at  his  death  no 
people  should  be  killed.  It  is  recorded  that  when  the  Japanese 
invaded  Korea  in  1592  they  dug  open  the  grave  of  one  of  the 
rulers  of  Karak,  contemporaneous  with  Silla,  and  found  the 
bodies  of  two  females  lying  on  either  side  the  King.  They 
appeared  to  have  been  embalmed,  for  we  are  told  that  when 
they  were  exposed  to  air  they  rapidly  disintegrated.  A few  rods 
outside  the  modern  town  is  found  a pavilion,  beneath  which 
hangs  one  of  the  largest  bells  in  the  world.  It  was  cast  over 
fourteen  hundred  years  ago,  before  the  pride  of  Silla  began  to 
decay.  In  measurement  it  equals  the  great  bell  in  Moscow,  but 
is  not  so  heavy.  On  the  other  hand,  it  still  hangs  from  its  great 


STONE  DOG,  GUARDIAN  OF  PALACE  AGAINST  FIRE 


9 


MONUMENTS  AND  RELICS  291 

beam  and  rings  out  its  summons  as  deep  and  clear  as  the  day" 
on  which  it  was  cast.  In  a sense  this  is  the  most  interesting 
and  remarkable  relic  in  Korea,  for  it  makes  us  take  so  many 
other  things  for  granted.  The  ability  to  mine  the  ore,  smelt  it, 
make  the  mould,  cast  the  bell  without  a flaw  and  hang  it  in  its 
place  — this  ability,  I say,  argues  a high  degree  of  civilisation. 
I doubt  whether  such  a work  could  be  accomplished  by  the 
Koreans  to-day  with  success. 

Another  relic  of  that  civilisation  is  an  ancient  stone  tower 
some  twenty  feet  high,  shaped  like  a monster  bottle.  This  was 
the  astronomical  observatory  of  ancient  Silla,  and  its  shape  may 
perhaps  be  explained  on  the  theory  that  it  was  like  a well  from 
whose  depths  one  could  look  up  and  see  the  stars  even  during 
the  day.  Of  the  great  Golden  Pagoda,  the  splendid  product  of 
Buddhism  in  its  lusty  youth,  nothing  now  remains  but  the  twO' 
lower  stories.  An  examination  of  this  wreck,  however,  will 
show  us  many  evidences  of  artistic  skill.  One  of  these  is  seen 
in  the  battered  bas-reliefs  which  flank  the  door.  One  of  these 
has  a halo  like  one  of  the  old-time  Christian  saints.  The  date 
of  this,  as  of  the  observatory,  must  be  about  500  a.  d. 

On  the  eastern  coast  of  Korea  there  is  a stone  slab  inscribed 
with  Chinese  characters,  which  was  set  up  by  a certain  prefect 
in  order  to  prevent  the  sea  from  flooding  a wide  alluvial  plain. 
It  was  supposed  to  have  some  influence  upon  the  spirit  of  the 
sea.  A later  prefect  scoffed  at  it  and  threw  it  down.  The  very 
next  season  a disastrous  tidal  wave  swept  over  the  plain,  destroy- 
ing many  lives  and  ruining  an  incalculable  amount  of  property. 
The  sacrilegious  prefect  was  driven  out,  and  the  stone  set  up 
again,  since  which  time  there  has  been  no  more  trouble! 

In  the  far  north  one  can  still  find  remnants  of  a mighty  wall 
that  was  built  clear  across  the  peninsula,  from  the  Yellow  Sea 
to  the  Japan  Sea,  to  keep  out  the  wild  barbarians  which  made 
sudden  and  sanguinary  raids  upon  the  peaceful  citizens  of 
Koryu.  That  was  seven  or  eight  centuries  ago.  All  through 
the  country  there  are  scores  of  walled  enclosures  on  the  tops  of 


292 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


rugged  mountains  near  important  towns.  These  are  relics  of 
the  days  when  the  incursions  of  wild  tribes  made  it  necessary 
to  have  places  of  refuge  at  hand,  where  all  the  people  could 
hasten  in  times  of  distress.  Some  of  these  are  extremely  old. 
One  near  Chemulpo  is  reputed  to  date  from  the  beginning  of 
our  era. 

Just  outside  the  wall  of  Songdo,  the  ancient  capital  of  Koryu, 
is  shown  a small  stone  bridge  on  which  the  loyal  Chong  Mong-ju 
was  slain.  He  was  faithful  to  the  closing  dynasty,  and  had  to 
be  put  out  of  the  way  before  the  new  one  could  be  firmly  estab- 
lished. On  the  central  stone  of  this  bridge  is  seen  to-day  a great 
brown  blotch,  which  turns  to  a dull  red  in  the  rain,  and  the 
Koreans  affirm  that  it  is  the  blood  of  that  loyal  man. 

Korea  is  filled  with  Buddhistic  relics.  There  is  hardly  a 
district  that  does  not  have  its  monastery  tucked  away  among 
the  foot-hills  of  the  mountains,  and  in  some  districts  there  are  a 
dozen  or  more.  On  Kwanak  Mountain  alone  there  are  said  to 
be  fourteen.  They  are  all  in  more  or  less  of  a moribund  condi- 
tion, and  monasteries  that  once  boasted  their  hundreds  of  vota- 
ries now  have  half  a dozen  or  less.  One  in  the  south  was  so 
large  that  the  Koreans  affirm  that  in  order  to  stir  the  big  kettle 
in  which  the  monks’  food  was  cooked  a man  had  to  go  out  in  a 
raft  upon  it.  We  must  make  allowance  for  a vivid  imagination 
here,  but  there  is  proof  at  hand  that  some  of  their  monastery 
kettles  were  immense.  To-day  there  lies  in  the  ditch  beside  the 
road  near  the  town  of  Kyong-ju  a kettle  that  was  once  the  main 
culinary  utensil  of  a monastery.  It  measures  over  thirty  feet 
in  circumference,  a clear  ten  feet  across  the  mouth.  One  would 
need  long  arms  to  stir  this  in  the  middle.  As  a rule  the  most 
beautiful  views  in  Korea  are  in  the  vicinity  of  the  monasteries, 
for  they  are  always  surrounded  by  fine  trees.  Not  a few  of 
them  are  built  in  the  midst  of  grand  forests  of  deciduous  trees, 
where  the  foreigner  goes  when  he  wishes  to  hunt.  They  are  the 
retreat  of  deer,  wild  boar  and  leopards.  The  most  famous  mon- 
asteries in  Korea  are  those  in  Diamond  ^Mountain,  a cluster  of 


MONUMENTS  AND  RELICS 


293 


peaks  near  the  central  eastern  part  of  the  peninsula.  They  are 
celebrated  even  in  China,  and  thousands  of  pilgrims  have  sought 
for  merit  by  dragging  their  weary  limbs  all  the  way  to  this  holy 
place.  Arriving  at  the  foot  of  the  mountains,  on  the  west  side 
the  traveller  has  to  dispense  with  his  pony  and  go  on  foot  or 
in  a rude  chair  carried  by  two  men.  One  foreign  traveller 
describes  it  as  a very  rough  road,  over  which  one  has  to  pass 
by  jumping  the  crevices  in  the  rocks  or  walking  across  on  a 
single  stick  of  wood  for  a bridge.  He  says  there  were  “ rocks 
around  which  one  has  to  wind  his  way  by  clinging  to  their 
irregularities  for  fear  of  falling  into  the  stream  below,  rocks 
over  which  the  water  roars  and  falls  in  beautiful  cataracts; 
rocks  covered  with  the  Chinese  names  of  visitors  who  had  passed 
that  way,  these  carved  names  forming  the  only  foothold  on  the 
slippery  surface;  rocks  which  the  monks  have  rendered  passable 
only  by  drilling  holes,  driving  pegs  and  laying  logs  above  them; 
rocks  on  which  are  perched  little  shrines  or  on  which  are  carved 
huge  bas-reliefs  of  Buddhas  ninety  feet  high  and  thirty  feet 
broad  at  the  base;  and  above  all  the  towering  cliffs  and  peaks 
of  the  parent  mountain.”  Several  flourishing  monasteries  are 
passed  on  the  way  up  the  steep  valley,  for  here,  if  nowhere  else. 
Buddhism  seems  to  have  some  show  of  vitality  left.  After  a 
long,  steep  climb  the  summit  of  the  range  is  passed,  and  below 
this  the  traveller  comes  to  the  U-cham  Monastery.  The  writer 
already  quoted  says,  “ Passing  the  cemetery  with  its  oddly  shaped 
stones,  we  were  shown  the  pools  said  to  have  been  the  bathing- 
place  of  the  dragons  in  olden  times.  They  are  nothing  but  ordi- 
nary pot-holes.  ...  In  the  temple  itself  there  are  fifty-three 
idols,  seated  upon  what  is  supposed  to  represent  the  upturned 
roots  of  a tree.  Below  are  three  hideous  dragons.  The  story- 
goes  that  when  the  fifty-three  monks  from  India  came  to  intro- 
duce Buddhism  into  Korea  they  came  here  and  sat  down  beside 
a wall  under  a nureum  tree.  As  they  sat  there,  behold,  three 
dragons  came  out  from  the  well  and  attacked  them.  The  ani- 
mals called  upon  the  winds  to  help  them,  and  a violent  gust  blew 


294 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


over  the  tree.  The  monks,  not  to  be  outdone,  placed  their  images 
of  Buddha  on  the  roots  of  the  tree,  making  an  altar  of  \vhat 
was  intended  for  their  destruction.  The  dragons  were  finally 
driven  back  into  the  well,  upon  which  the  monks  piled  stones 
and  later  built  the  monastery  and  temple.  In  proof  of  the  story 
the  monks  show  the  place  further  down  the  hill  where  the  water 
from  the  well  flows  out.  These  are  probably  the  same  dragons 
that  bathe  in  the  pools  mentioned  above.  In  the  morning  a 
young  monk  took  me  on  a tour  of  inspection,  and  I had  a good 
opportunity  to  see  the  occupants  of  a first-class  monasterj’^  in 
their  private  apartments.  These  consisted  of  a large  living 
room  and  a number  of  cells  just  large  enough  to  lie  down  in. 
All  were  very  clean.  Each  cell  contained  the  shrine  of  its  occu- 
pant. They  all  seemed  to  be  studying  industriously,  and  they 
apparently  lived  a happ}',  peaceful  life  compared  with  that  of 
the  ordinary  Korean.  This  is,  however,  only  their  place  of 
refuge,  and  each  must  seek  the  means  of  support  by  pilgrimages 
over  rough  Korean  roads  and  through  dirty  Korean  towns, 
where  he  receives  ‘ low  talk  ’ from  the  very  slaves,  and  begs  for 
a living.  Some  probably  have  rich  relatives  who  help  them 
liberally.”  It  is  also  true  that  many  of  these  most  celebrated 
monasteries  have  broad  rice-lands,  which  are  tilled  for  them  by 
the  farmers  in  the  vicinity,  the  latter  receiving  part  of  the  crop 
in  payment.  So  far  as  my  observation  goes,  there  are  ^•ery  few 
monasteries  that  depend  entirely  upon  charity  for  support.  There 
are  all  sorts  of  ceremonies  which  the  people  are  willing  to  pay 
for,  such  as  prayers  for  the  dead.  The  common  people  make 
no  special  distinction  between  the  Buddhist  rites  and  those  of  the 
despised  mudang  and  pausu.  The  social  level  of  the  monk  is 
little  if  any  higher  than  that  of  the  pausu,  and  it  depends  entirely 
upon  the  fancy  of  the  petitioner  whether  he  patronises  the  one 
or  the  other.  Of  course  the  temple  with  its  curious  carvings, 
its  dim  corners  and  its  weird  paintings  adds  impressiveness  to  the 
ceremony,  and  also  adds  to  the  price  that  must  be  paid.  It  is 
the  wealthier  class  that  patronise  the  monastery,  not  because  of 


A BOUNDARY  STONE 

The  “rubbing”  of  a tablet  which  marked 
the  north  limit  of  the  ancient  kingdom  of  Silla 


MONUMENTS  AND  RELICS 


295 


any  difference  in  religious  belief,  but  because  of  the  added  eclat 
of  the  ceremony.. 

The  discussion  of  Korean  relics  would  be  incomplete  without 
a reference,  to  the  curious  structures  which  are  found  in  various 
parts  of  the  north,  and  to  which  we  give  the  name  dolmen  for 
want  of  a better.  One  of  these  consists  of  two  huge  stones  set 
on  edge  to  form  the  opposite  sides  of  an  enclosure,  and  across 
the  top  is  laid  another.  The  upper  stone  is  a veritable  monolith, 
being  often  fifteen  feet  square  and  two  feet  thick.  The  space 
enclosed  is  about  eight  feet  long,  five  feet  wide  and  five  feet 
high,  and  the  most  natural  conclusion  is  that  it  must  be  some 
form  of  sepulture;  but,  though  the  back  of  the  space  is  some- 
times closed  with  a stone,  the  front  is  always  open,  nor  have  any 
bones  been  found  in  any  of  them.  There  is  not  a word  about 
these  curious  monuments  in  Korean  history,  and  the  only  ex- 
planation that  the  people  give  is  that  they  were  built  long  ago 
to  keep  back  the  powers  of  the  mountains,  who  would  otherwise 
invade  the  lowlands.  These  stones  are  always  partially  covered 
with  earth,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  originally  they  were 
entirely  covered.  They  are  often  found  in  the  midst  of  wide 
plains,  and  the  imagination  is  taxed  to  account  for  the  method 
by  which  those  rude  people  moved  the  huge  stones  from  the 
hills  to  their  present  places.  I incline  strongly  to  the  opinion 
that  they  are  very  ancient  graves,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  no 
bones  are  found;  for  even  in  the  Koryu  graves,  which  are  quite 
authentic  and  from  which  so  much  rude  pottery  is  taken,  no 
bones  are  found,  not  even  the  skull.  This  shows  that  six  or 
seven  hundred  years  will  suffice  to  cause  a complete  disintegra- 
tion of  human  bones,  at  least  in  Korean  soil.  These  dolmens 
are  much  more  ancient  than  any  Koryu  grave,  and  the  argument 
is  so  much  the  more  conclusive.  Much  still  remains  to  be  done 
by  way  of  excavation  and  examination  of  these  relics,  but  the 
Koreans  are  so  superstitious  that  little  can  be  done  at  present. 

All  about  the  country  there  are  enormous  carved  figures, 
which  the  Koreans  call  miryok.  Some  of  them  are  Buddhas, 


296 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


but  not  all.  It  was  doubtless  in  the  Koryu  dynasty,  the  palmy 
days  of  Buddhism,  that  money  was  forthcoming  to  carry  out 
these  costly  works.  The  great  statue  in  the  town  of  Eunjin 
stands  seventy  feet  high  or  more,  and  the  great  slab  of  stone  on 
its  head  measures  some  twelve  feet  in  length.  Between  Seoul 
and  Songdo  two  great  rock  figures  look  down  upon  the  traveller 
from  the  heights.  One  is  a male  figure  and  the  other  a female, 
and  whether  they  are  distinctly  Buddhistic  or  not  has  never  been 
settled.  Korean  fancy  weaves  the  most  curious  stories  about 
these  images.  The  ones  last  referred  to  are  said  to  have  been 
carved  by  a wealthy  gentleman  of  the  neighbourhood  who  was 
so  troubled  by  beggars,  whose  solicitations  he  had  not  the  heart 
to  repulse,  that  he  begged  someone  to  tell  him  how  he  could 
secure  peace.  An  aged  stranger  passing  by  told  him  if  he  would 
carve  the  two  rocks,  that  stood  up  like  needles  near  his  house, 
into  the  shape  of  a man  and  a woman,  he  would  never  be  troubled 
by  beggars  again.  He  hastened  to  comply,  but  before  he  had 
finished  he  found  that  his  own  wealth  was  exhausted,  and  he 
discovered  too  late  that  this  was  the  reason  why  beggars  would 
trouble  him  no  more.  A still  more  romantic  tale  is  told  of  a 
great  miryok  in  the  south.  A needy  but  ambitious  gentleman 
was  tramping  up  to  Seoul  to  take  the  national  examination. 
He  found  this  great  image  in  the  heart  of  a forest,  and  from  a 
fissure  in  its  head  he  perceived  a pear-tree  to  be  growing.  On 
the  tree  hung  a pear  as  large  as  a man’s  head.  If  he  could 
secure  it  and  take  it  as  a gift  to  the  King,  his  fortune  would  be 
made.  He  climbed  up  the  lofty  image  by  means  of  the  bushes 
and  vines  that  grew  about  it  until  he  reached  the  lips,  but  there 
was  no  way  to  get  over  the  huge  nose  that  hung  out  over  him. 
He  determined  to  crawl  up  one  of  the  nostrils,  hoping  to  find  a 
way  through  to  the  top;  so  he  wormed  his  way  up  with  knees 
and  elbows  till  he  reached  the  point  where  the  nostril  contracts. 
At  this  instant  he  was  terrified  by  a great  shaking  of  the  image, 
and  an  instant  later  a howling  blast  came  down  the  passage  and 
swept  him  out,  as  he  confidently  expected,  to  his  doom.  The 


The  upper  picture  shows  the  great  stone  Buddha  at  Eunjin.  The  lower 
picture  presents  the  “Devil  Post”  on  right  and  pile  of  stones  in  centre, 
on  which  each  traveller  throws  one  more  “for  luck.”  On  extreme  left 
is  a bush  to  which  rags,  cash,  fish-heads,  and  other  things  are  tied  to 
please  the  spirits 


SYMBOLS  OF  KOREA’S  RELIGION 


MONUMENTS  AND  RELICS 


297 

god  had  sneezed ! Why  had  he  not  thought  of  this  contingency  ? 
He  fell  into  the  thick  bushes  and  lost  consciousness,  but  recov- 
ered later,  only  to  find,  to  his  joy,  that  the  same  cataclysm  which 
had  hurled  him  down  had  also  dislodged  the  pear,  which  lay  at 
his  feet.  He  took  it  to  Seoul,  and  by  its  help  reached  that  Mecca 
of  all  Koreans,  official  position. 

But  besides  the  genuine  relics  that  may  be  found  in  Korea, 
there  are  a host  of  others  that  exist  in  the  imagination  of  the 
people  and  exercise  a powerful  influence  upon  their  thought. 
For  instance,  there  is  the  jade  flute,  which  is  supposed  to  be 
kept  at  Kyong-ju  in  the  archives  of  ancient  Silla,  and  which 
cannot  be  played  upon  if  it  is  taken  to  any  other  place.  So 
firmly  do  the  Koreans  believe  in  this  flute  that  they  say  the  late 
regent  had  it  brought  up  to  Seoul,  and  that  the  present  Emperor, 
when  a boy,  accidentally  broke  it.  The  regent  is  said  to  have 
mended  it  with  a silver  band.  It  is  thus  that  the  Koreans  weave 
about  the  most  impossible  tales  a web  of  circumstance,  giving 
them  a certain  verisimilitude  that  might  easily  deceive  the  unin- 
itiated. There  is  also  the  celebrated  medicine  stone  in  Pochun, 
which  was  once  polished  as  smooth  as  glass,  and  if  anyone  looked 
into  this  as  into  a mirror  he  would  discover  from  what  disease 
he  was  suffering.  The  Koreans  firmly  believe  that  somewhere 
in  one  of  the  old  palaces  in  Seoul  there  lie  three  hundred  dried-up 
skins  of  Japanese  unmarried  females.  These,  they  say,  were  ex- 
acted as  an  indemnit}^  from  the  Japanese  at  the  end  of  the  great 
invasion  of  1592.  The  story  is  that  the  Japanese  were  compelled 
to  agree  to  send  this  number  every  year,  but  that  after  the  first 
year  the  Koreans  out  of  pity  remitted  the  tribute.  There  is 
about  as  much  sense  in  this  statement  as  there  is  in  the  claim 
put  forth  by  the  Japanese  that  Korea  ever  paid  tribute  to  that 
kingdom.  It  looks  as  if  the  story  of  these  skins  was  invented 
as  an  offset  to  the  fact  that  the  Japanese  sent  thousands  of 
Korean  noses  and  ears  to  Japan  during  the  days  of  that  inva- 
sion. The  falsity  of  the  Korean  story  does  them  more  credit 
than  the  truth  of  the  Japanese  story  does  the  Japanese. 


298 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


The  Koreans  will  tell  you  that  there  lies  buried  in  the  sands 
on  the  southern  coast  the  hull  of  the  famous  tortoise  boat  with 
which  Admiral  Yi  Sun-sin  won  his  famous  naval  battles  over 
the  Japanese,  and  Ensign  George  C.  Foulk  of  the  American  navy, 
who  was  making  a trip  in  southern  Korea  at  the  time  of  the 
emciite  of  1884,  told  the  writer  that  the  remains  of  a boat  were 
pointed  out  to  him  as  being  the  authentic  “ tortoise  boat." 
This  was  of  course  another  case  of  vivid  imagination  on  the 
part  of  the  Koreans.  It  may  be  that  there  is  more  truth  in  the 
statement  that  in  the  storehouse  of  the  old  fortress  of  Namhan 
there  lies  the  original  mortar  which  the  Koreans  invented  to 
throw  bombs  into  the  Japanese  forts.  The  story  of  the  inven- 
tion of  this  weapon  is  told  in  all  good  faith,  and  the  records  say 
that  when  it  was  fired  the  whole  thing  leaped  over  the  wall  and 
fell  among  the  Japanese  soldiers;  and  when  they  crowded 
around  to  see  what  it  was,  it  exploded  and  destroyed  a score  of 
men.  It  seems  clear  that  they  had  some  sort  of  weapon  resem- 
bling the  bomb  and  mortar,  and  if  so  they  may  have  been  the 
first  inventors  of  it. 

It  is  said  that  there  is  a cave  about  thirty  miles  south  of 
Seoul  called  “ The  Death  Cave.”  In  the  days  of  the  great 
invasion,  three  centuries  ago,  about  a thousand  Koreans  took 
refuge  in  this  place,  but  the  Japanese  built  a huge  fire  at  its 
mouth  and  suffocated  them  all.  Since  that  time  no  Korean  has 
ever  ventured  into  the  cave  for  fear  of  the  spirits  of  the  dead. 

Many  questions  have  been  asked  about  the  tombs  in  which 
golden-cofiined  kings  lie,  and  which  the  vandal  Oppert  came  to 
rob  in  1867.  The  Koreans  say  that  Oppert  and  his  crew  were 
friends  of  the  Roman  Catholic  priests  who  had  been  killed  here 
the  preceding  year,  and  that  Oppert  came  to  rifle  the  grave  of 
the  father  of  the  regent  in  revenge.  This  was  not  true.  The 
expedition  was  a purely  predatory  one,  and  the  object  of  it  was 
to  find  the  gold  and  treasure  that  were  supposed  to  lie  in  the 
tombs  on  Tabong  Mountain.  The  amusing  thing  about  it  is 
that  these  are  not  royal  graves,  but  merely  the  place  where, 


MONUMENTS  AND  RELICS 


299 

according  to  immemorial  custom,  the  placentae  of  royal  births 
have  been  buried.  The  writer  had  a conversation  in  1887  with 
an  old  man  in  Nagasaki  who  had  formed  one  of  this  expedition, 
and  he  corroborated  the  statement  of  the  Koreans  that  a heavy 
and  unusual  fog  hung  over  the  country  on  that  day  and  pre- 
vented the  carrying  out  of  the  plan.  Such  a powerful  impres- 
sion did  this  outrage  make  upon  the  Koreans  that  they  composed 
a popular  song  about  it  which  says ; 

Yanggukeui  chajin  aiigd 
Wheanpong  tora  deunda. 

The  thick  fog  of  the  Westerners 
Broods  over  Whean  Peak. 


CHAPTER  XXII 


LANGUAGE 

The  Korean  language  belongs  to  that  widely  dissemi- 
nated family  to  which  the  term  Turanian  has  been 
applied.  This  term  is  sufficiently  indefinite  to  match 
the  subject,  for  scholarship  has  not  determined  with 
any  degree  of  exactitude  the  limits  of  its  dispersion.  At  its  widest 
reach  it  includes  Turkish,  Hungarian,  Basque,  Lappish,  Finnish, 
Ouigour,  Ostiak,  Samoiyed,  Mordwin,  hlanchu,  Mongol  and  the 
other  Tartar  and  Siberian  dialects,  Japanese,  Korean,  Tamil, 
Telugu,  Canarese,  Malayalam  and  the  other  Dravidian  dialects. 
Malay  and  a great  number  of  the  Polynesian  and  Australian 
dialects.  It  reaches  northward  along  the  coast  of  Asia,  through 
the  Philippine  Islands  and  Formosa,  and  south  and  east  into 
New  Guinea,  New  Hebrides  and  Australia. 

The  main  point  which  differentiates  this  whole  family  of 
languages  from  the  Aiyan  tongues  is  the  agglutinative  principle 
by  which  declension  and  conjugation  are  effected  through  the 
addition  of  postpositions  and  suffixes,  and  not  by  modification 
of  the  stem.  In  all  these  different  languages  the  stem  of  the 
word  remains,  as  a rule,  intact  through  every  form  of  gram- 
matical manipulation.  That  Korean  belongs  to  this  family  of 
languages  is  seen  in  its  strictly  agglutinative  character.  There 
has  been  no  deviation  from  this  principle.  There  are  no  excep- 
tions. Any  typical  Korean  verb  can  be  conjugated  through  its 
thousand  different  forms  without  finding  the  least  change  in 
the  stem  of  the  word.  A comparison  of  Korean  with  jManchu 
discloses  at  once  a family  likeness,  and  at  the  same  time  a com- 
parison of  Korean  with  the  Dravidian  dialects  discloses  a still 
closer  kinship.  It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  none  of  the  Chinese 
dialects  possess  any  of  the  distinctive  features  of  this  Turanian 


LANGUAGE 


301 


family.  Tliere  is  more  similarity  between  Chinese  and  English 
than  between  Chinese  and  any  of  the  Turanian  languages.  In 
other  words,  China  has  been  even  more  thoroughly  isolated  lin- 
guistically than  she  has  socially,  and  the  evidence  goes  to  prove 
that  at  some  period  enormously  remote,  after  the  original 
Chinese  had  effected  an  entrance  into  the  mighty  amphitheatre, 
between  the  central  Asian  mountains  on  the  one  hand  and  the 
waters  of  the  Pacific  on  the  other,  they  were  surrounded  by  a sub- 
sequent race  who  impinged  upon  them  at  every  point,  and  con- 
quered them  more  than  once,  but  who  never  succeeded  in  leaving 
a single  trace  upon  their  unique  and  primitive  language.  This 
surrounding  family  was  the  Turanian,  and  Korean  forms  one 
link  in  the  chain. 

Korean  bears  almost  precisely  the  same  relation  to  Chinese 
that  English  does  to  Latin.  English  has  retained  its  own  dis- 
tinct grammatical  structure  while  drawing  an  immense  number 
of  words  from  the  Romance  dialects  for  purposes  of  embellish- 
ment and  precision.  The  same  holds  true  of  Korean.  She  has 
never  surrendered  a single  point  to  Chinese  grammar,  and  yet 
has  borrowed  largely  from  the  Chinese  glossary  as  convenience 
or  necessity  has  required.  Chinese  may  be  called  the  Latin  of 
the  Far  East.  For,  just  as  Rome  through  her  higher  civilisation 
lent  thousands  of  words  to  the  semi-savages  hovering  along  her 
borders,  so  China  has  furnished  all  the  surrounding  peoples  with 
their  scientific,  legal,  philosophical  and  religious  terminology. 
The  development  of  Chinese  grammar  was  early  checked  by  the 
influence  of  the  ideograph,  and  so  she  never  has  had  anything 
to  lend  her  neighbours  in  the  way  of  superior  grammatical 
inflection. 

The  grammars  of  Korea  and  Japan  are  practically  identical, 
and  yet,  strange  to  say,  with  the  exception  of  the  words  they 
have  both  borrowed  from  China,  their  glossaries  are  remarkably 
dissimilar.  This  forms  one  of  the  most  obscure  philological 
problems  of  the  Far  East.  The  identity  in  grammatical  struc- 
ture, however,  stamps  them  as  sister  languages. 


302 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


The  study  of  Korean  grammar  is  rendered  interesting  by  the 
fact  that  in  the  surrounding  of  China  by  Turanian  peoples  Korea 
forms  the  place  where  the  two  surrounding  branches  met  and 
completed  the  circuit.  Northern  Korea  was  settled  from  the 
north  by  Turanian  people,  and  southern  Korea  was  settled  from 
the  south  by  Turanian  people.  It  was  not  until  193  b.  c.  that 
each  became  definitely  aware  of  the  presence  of  the  other.  At 
first  they  refused  to  acknowledge  the  relationship,  but  the  fact 
that,  when  in  690  a.  d.  the  southern  kingdom  of  Silla  assumed 
control  of  the  whole  peninsula,  there  remained  no  such  line  of 
social  cleavage  as  that  which  obtained  between  the  English  and 
Normans  after  1066,  shows  that  an  intrinsic  similarity  of  lan- 
guage and  a similar  racial  aptitude  quickly  closed  the  breach  and 
made  Korea  the  unit  that  she  is  to-day. 

Korean  is  an  agglutinative,  polysyllabic  language  whose 
development  is  marvellously  complete  and  symmetrical.  A’e  find 
no  such  long  lists  of  exceptions  as  those  which  entangle  the 
student  of  the  Indo-European  languages.  In  Korean  as  in  most 
of  the  Turanian  languages  the  idea  of  gender  is  ver}?-  imperfectly 
developed,  which  argues  perhaps  a lack  of  imagination.  The 
ideas  of  person  and  number  are  largely  left  to  the  context  for 
determination,  but  in  the  matter  of  logical  sequence  the  Korean 
verb  is  carried  to  the  extreme  of  development. 

The  Korean’s  keen  sense  of  social  distinctions  has  given  rise 
to  a complete  system  of  honorifics  whose  proper  application  is 
essential  to  a right  use  of  the  language.  And  yet  numerous  as 
these  may  be,  their  use  is  so  regulated  by  unwritten  law,  and 
there  are  so  few  exceptions  that  they  are  far  easier  to  master 
than  the  personal  tenuinations  of  Indo-European  verbs.  The 
grammatical  superiority  of  Korean  over  many  of  the  Western 
languages  is  that  while,  in  the  latter,  differences  of  gender, 
number  and  person  which  would  usually  be  perfectly  clear 
from  the  context  are  carefully  noted,  in  the  Korean  these  are 
left  to  the  speaker’s  and  the  hearer’s  perspicacity,  and  atten- 
tion is  concentrated  upon  a terse  and  luminous  collocation  of 


1 , 

I ^ ^ 


j=  bH 

o c 

■ W £ 

. I ° 


LANGUAGE 


303 


ideas,  which  is  often  secured  in  the  West  only  by  a tedious 
circumlocution. 

The  genius  of  the  language  has  led  the  Korean  to  express 
every  possible  verbal  relation  by  a separate  modal  form.  The 
extent  to  which  this  has  been  carried  may  be  shown  only  by  illus- 
tration. Besides  having  simple  forms  to  express  the  different 
tenses  and  modes,  it  also  has  forms  to  express  all  those  more 
delicate  verbal  relations  which  in  English  require  a circumlo- 
cution or  the  free  use  of  adverbs.  For  instance,  the  Korean  has 
a special  mode  to  express  the  idea  of  necessity,  contingency, 
surprise,  reproof,  antithesis,  conjunction,  temporal  sequence, 
logical  sequence,  interruption,  duration,  limit,  acquiescence, 
expostulation,  interrogation,  promise,  exhortation,  imprecation, 
desire,  doubt,  hypothesis,  satisfaction,  propriety,  concession, 
intention,  decision,  probability,  possibility,  prohibition,  simul- 
taneity, continuity,  repetition,  infrequency,  hearsay,  agency,  con- 
tempt, ability.  Each  one  of  these  ideas  can  be  expressed  in 
connection  with  any  active  verb  by  the  simple  addition  of  one  or 
more  inseparable  suffixes.  By  far  the  greater  number  of  these 
suffixes  are  monosyllabic. 

To  illustrate  the  delicate  shades  of  thought  that  can  be 
expressed  by  the  use  of  a suffix  let  us  take  the  English  expression, 
“ I was  going  along  the  road,  when  suddenly  — ” This,  without 
anything  more,  implies  that  the  act  of  going  was  suddenly  inter- 
rupted by  some  unforeseen  circumstance.  All  this  would  be 
expressed  in  Korean  by  the  three  words  naga  kile  kataga.  The 
first  means  “ I,”  the  second  means  “ along  the  road,”  and  the 
third  means  “ was  going,  when  suddenly  — ” The  stem  of 
the  verb  is  ka,  and  the  ending,  taga,  indicates  the  interruption  of 
the  action.  And  what  is  more  to  the  point,  this  ending  has  abso- 
lutely no  other  use.  It  is  reserved  solely  for  the  expression  of 
this  shade  of  thought.  Again,  on  the  same  stem  we  have  the 
word  kalka,  in  which  the  ending  ka  gives  all  the  meaning  that  we 
connote  in  the  expression,  “ I wonder  whether  he  will  really  go 
or  not.”  If,  in  answer  to  the  question  whether  you  are  going 


304 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


or  not  you  say  simply  kana,  it  means,  “ What  in  the  world  would 
I be  going  for?  Absurd!  ” 

Another  thing  which  differentiates  Korean  from  the  lan- 
guages of  the  West  is  the  difference  between  “book  langyiage  ” 
and  “ spoken  language.”  Many  grammatical  forms  are  common 
to  both,  but  there  are  also  many  in  each  that  are  not  found  in  the 
other.  The  result  is  extremely  unfortunate,  for  no  conversation 
can  be  written  down  verhatirn;  it  must  all  be  changed  into  book 
language.  This  fact  is  probably  due  to  Chinese  influence,  and  it 
is  but  one  of  the  ways  in  which  that  influence  acted  as  a drag 
upon  Korean  intellectual  development.  I would  not  belittle  the 
enormous  debt  that  Korea  owes  to  China,  but  some  of  her  gifts 
had  been  better  ungiven.  None  of  these  endings  are  borrowed 
from  the  Chinese  language,  but  as  Korea  had  practically  no  liter- 
ature before  Chinese  influence  led  up  to  it,  it  was  inevitable  that 
certain  endings  should  be  reserved  for  the  formal  language  of 
books,  while  others  were  considered  good  enough  onl}'^  to  be 
bandied  from  mouth  to’  mouth.  It  is  of  course  impossible  to  say 
what  sort  of  a literature  Korea  would  have  evolved  had  she  been 
left  to  herself,  but  one  thing  is  sure;  it  would  have  been  much 
more  spontaneous  and  lifelike  than  that  which  now  obtains. 

Korean  has  no  dialects.  There  are  different  brogpies,  and  a 
Seoul  man  can  generally  detect  by  a man’s  speech  from  what 
province  he  comes;  but  it  would  be  wide  of  the  truth  to  assert 
that  Koreans  from  any  part  of  the  country  could  not  readily 
understand  each  other.  There  are  some  few  words  that  are 
peculiar  to  particular  provinces,  but  for  the  most  part  these  are 
mutually  known,  just  as  the  four  words  “ guess,”  “ reckon,” 
“ allow  ” and  “ calculate,”  while  peculiar  in  a certain  sense  to 
particular  sections  of  America,  are  universally  understood. 

No  people  have  followed  more  implicitly  nature’s  law  in  the 
matter  of  euphony.  The  remarkable  law  of  the  convertibility 
of  surds  and  sonants  has  been  worked  out  to  its  ultimate  results 
in  this  language.  The  nice  adjustment  of  the  organs  of  speech, 
whereby  conflicting  sounds  are  so  modified  as  to  blend  harmoni- 


LANGUAGE 


305 


ously,  is  one  of  the  unconscious  Korean  arts.  The  euphonic 
tendency  has  not  broken  down  the  languages,  as  is  sometimes 
the  case.  Prof.  Max  Muller  speaks  of  a law  of  phonetic  decay, 
but  in  Korea  it  would  be  better  called  the  law  of  phonetic  adjust- 
ment. Korean  is  characterised  by  a large  number  of  mimetic 
words.  As  their  colours  are  drawn  directly  from  nature,  so  their 
words  are  often  merely  phonetic  descriptions. 

The  Korean  language  is  eminently  adapted  for  public  speak- 
ing. It  is  a sonorous,  vocal  language.  They  have  grasped  the 
idea  that  the  vowel  is  the  basis  of  all  human  speech.  The  sibi- 
lant element  is  far  less  conspicuous  than  in  Japanese,  and  one 
needs  only  to  hear  a public  speech  in  Japanese  and  one  in  Korean 
to  discover  the  great  advantage  which  the  latter  enjoys.  The 
lack  of  all  accent  in  Japanese  words  is  a serious  drawback  to 
oratory.  There  is  nothing  in  Korean  speech  that  makes  it  less 
adapted  to  oratory  than  English  or  any  other  Western  tongue. 
In  common  with  the  language  of  Cicero  or  Demosthenes,  Korean 
is  composed  of  periodic  sentences,  each  one  reaching  its  climax 
in  the  verb  which  is  usually  the  final  word,  and  there  are  no  weak- 
ening addenda  which  so  often  make  the  English  sentence  an  anti- 
climax. In  this  respect  the  Korean  surpasses  English  as  a 
medium  of  public  speaking. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 


LITERATURE 

JUST  as  Korea  and  China  have  a very  high  moral  standard 
that  they  never  even  pretend  to  live  up  to,  so  each  of  these 
countries  has  the  utmost  regard  for  literature,  while  all 
the  time  the  common  people  are  grossly  illiterate.  Both 
morals  and  literature  have  gone  to  seed,  and  we  much  fear  the 
seeds  are  not  fertile.  The  Chinese  character  possesses  a certain 
hypnotic  power  which  it  exercises  in  A'arying  degree  upon  every- 
one who  acquires  a smattering  of  it.  It  can  be  proved  to  a cer- 
tainty that  this  character  is  a most  cumbersome  and  unscientific 
affair  so  far  as  being  a medium  for  the  acquisition  of  actual 
knowledge  is  concerned.  No  one  dare  deny  that  it  stands  like 
a stumbling-block  in  the  path  of  general  education  throughout 
the  Far  East,  and  yet  almost  every  foreigner  who  acquires  a 
modicum  of  it  becomes  so  enamoured  of  it  that  he  is  unwilling 
to  see  it  laid  aside  for  some  system  which  will  make  the  vast  range 
of  human  knowledge  accessible  to  the  masses  of  these  countries. 
The  tens  of  thousands  of  characters  which  form  the  written  lan- 
guage of  China  are  a wonderful  mosaic  which  has  been  built 
up  during  thousands  of  years,  so  that  if  anyone  once  gets  the 
key  to  it  the  mere  etymological  study,  irrespective  of  positive  and 
useful  intellectual  results,  is  almost  irresistibly  fascinating.  While 
the  process  by  which  this  system  has  been  built  up  appears  to  have 
followed  certain  general  laws,  yet  the  divergences  and  exceptions 
have  been  so  many  and  so  great  that  in  the  acquisition  of  a 
knowledge  of  them  memory  alone  seems  to  be  required.  All 
sorts  of  methods  have  been  devised  whereby  foreigners  can 
acquire  the  Chinese  character  with  facility,  but  it  is  much  to  be 
doubted  whether  they  are  any  better  than  the  method  in  use  in 


LITERATURE 


307 


Korea  and  China  for  the  last  two  or  three  thousand  years; 
namely,  to  memorize  them  one  after  the  other  without  regard 
to  similarity  of  shape  or  sound.  In  the  last  analysis  it  comes 
to  a matter  of  pure  memory,  and  the  antipodal  character  of  the 
methods  which  have  been  devised  to  make  it  easy  shows  that 
such  attempts  are  largely  futile.  The  excessive  use  of  the  mem- 
ory in  the  learning  of  the  mere  shapes  of  the  characters  has  a 
deadening  effect  upon  the  purely  ratiocinative  faculty.  This  is 
evidenced  in  the  very  character  of  Chinese  and  Korean  literature. 
Historical  narrative  of  the  baldest  kind,  without  any  attempt  to 
generalise,  holds  a most  conspicuous  place.  In  the  West  the 
historian  analyses  the  material  which  historical  records  put  in 
his  hands ; he  searches  for  the  causes  of  things,  and  frequently 
epitomises  the  salient  features  of  a whole  era  in  a few  sentences. 
Such  a thing  as  this  is  absolutely  unknown  in  the  dusty  annals 
of  the  Far  East.  The  scientific  ability  to  deduce  principles 
from  mere  statements  of  historical  fact  seems  to  have  been  ut- 
terly adumbrated.  In  his  poetry  the  Korean  is  hampered  rather 
than  helped  by  the  character.  A large  part  of  his  effort  is 
expended  in  the  nice  balancing  of  characters  with  reference  to 
their  sound,  just  as  if  a Western  poet  were  to  consider  rhyiue,, 
assonance  and  alliteration  the  main  elements  of  true  poetry.  And 
yet  it  must  be  confessed  that  the  character  has  had  a less  dele- 
terious effect  upon  the  poetical  faculty  than  upon  the  logical. 

It  may  be  said  with  considerable  truth  that  the  whole  liter- 
ature of  Korea,  as  of  China,  is  history  and  belles  letfres.  The 
practical  side  of  life  is  hardly  touched  upon.  To  be  sure,  there 
are  countless  aphorisms,  and  moral  essays  of  an  academic  char- 
acter are  most  common,  but  these  in  their  practical  bearing  on 
the  Chinese  or  Korean  mind  are  no  more  than  mere  polite  litera- 
ture, and  are  always  perused  as  such. 

As  for  scientific  literature,  the  government  now  and  again 
publishes  a ponderous  work  in  a score  of  volumes  on  some  subject 
like  farming,  astronomy,  medicine  or  law.  A few  wealthy  gentle- 
men and  officials  can  afford  to  secure  a copy,  but  as  for  practical 


3o8 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


use  by  the  people,  these  works  are  utterly  worthless,  and  would 
be  so  even  if  the  contents  were  unimpeachable,  — which  is  prob- 
ably far  from  the  case. 

To  make  a very  long  matter  short,  the  literatures  of  Korea 
and  of  China  have  a backward  look.  Imitation  of  past  writings 
is  the  highest  excellence  to  be  achieved.  Not  only  is  there  no 
such  thing  as  originality,  but  the  very  word  itself  is  Avanting, 
and  if  the  idea  were  expressed  by  a circumlocution  it  would  be 
laughed  at.  To  what  extent  the  Chinese  character  is  responsible 
for  this  state  of  things  is  a moot  question,  but  I believe  that  it 
is  one  of  the  main  causes  of  the  backward  condition  of  these 
peoples.  The  art  of  imitation  dominates  literature,  art,  dress, 
morals  and  everything  else.  Ask  a man  thoroughly  conversant 
with  these  countries  whether  it  is  not  true  that  when  you  have 
seen  a single  Chinese  temple  you  have  really  seen  them  all,  when 
you  have  heard  one  piece  of  music  you  have  heard  them  all, 
when  you  have  seen  one  good  sample  of  cloisonne  you  have  seen 
them  all,  when  you  have  seen  one  sample  of  embroidery  you 
have  seen  them  all.  In  this  arraignment  Japan  must  be  excepted, 
for  she  has  received  a new  impetus  along  artistic  lines  through 
the  demand  of  foreign  trade.  But  I dare  say  that  the  true 
Japanese  connoisseur  to-day  would  by  far  prefer  the  simple  and 
pure  forms  of  earlier  Japanese  art  to  the  more  modern  departures. 

Korean  literature,  the  more  celebrated  portions  of  which  are 
all  in  the  Chinese  character,  consists  of  voluminous  histories, 
some  of  them  running  into  several  scores  of  volumes,  the  Chinese 
classics,  founded  on  the  Confucian  code,  heJlcs  letfrcs  proper, 
consisting  of  what  the  Koreans  vaguely  call  keiil,  or  “ writing,” 
the  nature  of  it  being  supposedly  poetic,  a few  heavy  works  on 
medicine,  geography  (native),  law  and  government,  and  finally, 
a large  number  of  biographies.  Each  family  of  note  will  have 
its  history  transcribed  in  volume  after  volume.  IMany  of  these 
are  in  manuscript,  waiting  for  the  time  when  some  member  of 
the  family  shall  attain  wealth  and  be  able  to  have  the  work 
published  for  circulation  throughout  the  clan. 


LITERATURE 


309 


We  see,  then,  that  quite  a list  of  Korean  books  could  be 
gotten  together,  but  the  trouble  is  that  very  few  Koreans  can 
afford  to  possess  them.  The  ordinary  gentleman  may  have 
half  a dozen  works  of  various  kinds,  but  it  is  only  here  and 
there  that  one  of  them  will  have  what  we  could  call  a library. 
And  right  here  comes  in  a most  marked  peculiarity  of  this 
people.  While  they  are  very  open-handed  with  their  money,  as 
a rule,  yet  in  the  matter  of  books  they  are  the  utmost  misers. 
I know  personally  of  a number  of  well-stocked  libraries  in  Seoul, 
but  it  is  absolutely  impossible  even  to  get  a look  at  them.  Not 
only  will  the  owner  not  lend  a book,  but  he  will  not  show  one 
to  a visitor  except  under  the  most  unusual  circumstances.  They 
do  well  not  to  lend,  but  it  is  one  of  the  most  difficult  traits  of 
the  Korean  to  explain,  — this  extreme  unwillingness  even  to 
show  a book  at  his  own  house.  It  is  easy  to  see,  therefore,  that 
the  cause  of  general  reading  is  badly  handicapped.  There  are 
no  public  libraries,  except  those  in  Seoul,  which  handle  fiction 
in  the  native  character,  and  many  of  the  really  valuable  works 
are  so  voluminous  that  very  few  can  afford  to  purchase.  Let 
me  illustrate.  One  of  the  really  valuable  books  is  the  Mun-hon 
Pi-go,  an  encyclopaedia  in  one  hundred  and  twelve  volumes.  This 
work  is  nearly  as  well  known  by  name  in  Korea  as  the  Britannica 
is  in  England  or  America,  and  yet  I have  never  discovered  more 
than  three  copies  of  it  in  the  country.  I worked  for  months  to 
secure  even  a look  at  one,  and  it  was  only  the  sudden  collapse 
of  a wealthy  family  which  threw  a copy  on  the  market  and  gave 
the  opportunity  to  buy.  Even  then  it  was  a matter  of  consider- 
able diplomacy.  There  are  half-a-dozen  of  the  leading  Korean 
works  that  I have  never  been  able  to  set  eyes  upon  even  after 
years  of  inquiry  and  search. 

When  we  come  to  the  matter  of  fiction,  we  find  that  the 
imagination  of  the  Korean  was  not  to  be  held  completely  in 
check  even  by  the  iron  grasp  of  Chinese  ideals. 


310 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


FICTION 

To  say  that  Korea  has  never  produced  a great  novelist  is  true, 
if  we  mean  by  a novelist  a person  who  makes  his  life-work  the 
writing  of  fiction  and  bases  his  literary  reputation  thereon.  But 
if,  on  the  other  hand,  a man  who  in  the  midst  of  graver  literary 
work  turns  aside  to  write  a successful  novel  may  be  called  a 
novelist,  then  Korea  has  produced  a goodly  number  of  them.  If 
the  word  “ novel  ” is  restricted  to  a work  of  fiction  developed  in 
great  detail  and  covering  a certain  minimum  number  of  pages, 
Korea  cannot  be  said  to  possess  many  novels,  but  if  a work  of 
fiction  covering  as  much  ground  as,  say,  Dickens’  “ Christmas 
Carol  ” may  be  called  a novel,  Korea  has  thousands  of  them. 

The  literary  history  of  Korea  opened  in  the  seventh  century 
of  our  era.  The  great  scholar  Ch'oe  Chi-wun  was  the  Korean 
Chaucer,  and  he  was  one  of  the  very  few  Koreans  whose  writ- 
ings have  been  widely  recognised  outside  the  confines  of  the 
peninsula.  But  even  at  the  very  dawn  of  letters  we  find  that 
he  wrote  and  published  a complete  novel  under  the  name  “ Ad- 
ventures among  the  Kuen-lun  Mountains.”  It  is  a fanciful 
account  of  a Korean's  ramblings  among  the  great  mountains  in 
southern  China.  The  same  writer  also  produced  a volume  of 
poems  and  stories.  I\Iany  of  the  latter  were  of  a length  to 
merit  at  least  the  name  of  novelette.  At  about  the  same  time 
another  writer,  Kim  Am,  wrote  a story  of  adventure  in  Japan, 
which  was  quite  long  enough  to  be  called  a novel. 

Kim  Pu-sik,  the  greatest  of  the  Koryu  writers,  to  whom  we 
owe  the  standard  History  of  the  Three  Kingdoms,  wrote  a com- 
plete novel  in  one  volume,  called  “ The  Story  of  the  Long  North 
Wall.”  This  may  be  called  an  historical  novel,  for  Korea  once 
boasted  a counterpart  to  the  Great  \Yz\\  of  China,  extending  from 
the  Yellow  Sea  to  the  Japan  Sea  across  the  whole  of  northern 
Korea. 

About  1440  the  celebrated  monk  Ka-san  wrote  “ The  Ad- 
ventures of  Hong  Kil-dong,”  and  another  monk,  Ha  Jong,  wrote 


LITERATURE 


311 

“ The  Adventures  of  Kyong-op.”  Coming  down  to  more  modern 
times,  we  migEt  mention  the  novel  of  Yi  Mun-jong,  written 
about  1760,  and  bearing  the  Aristophanean  title  of  “ The  Frogs.” 
Then  there  were  “ The  Praise  of  Virtue  and  Righteousness,” 
“ Nine  Men’s  Dreams,”  “ A Dream  at  Keum-san  Monastery,” 
“ The  Adventures  of  Yi  Ha-ryong,”  “ The  Golden  Jewel,”  “ The 
Story  of  a Clever  Woman,”  “ The  Adventures  of  Sir  Rabbit  ” 
and  many  others. 

While  many  of  these  novels  place  the  scene  of  the  story  in 
Korea,  others  go  far  afield,  China  being  a favourite  setting  for 
many  purely  Korean  stories.  In  this  the  Koreans  have  but  fol- 
lowed the  example  of  writers  in  other  lands,  as  the  works  of  Bul- 
wer  Lytton,  Kingsley,  Scott  and  a host  of  others  bear  witness. 

These  that  we  have  mentioned  are  written  in  Chinese  char- 
acters, but  Korea  is  also  filled  with  fiction  written  only  in  the 
native  character.  Nominally  these  tales  are  despised  by  the  lit- 
erary class,  which  forms  a small  fraction  of  the  people,  but  in 
reality  there  are  very  few  even  of  this  class  who  are  not  thor- 
oughly conversant  with  the  contents  of  these  novels.  They  are 
on  sale  in  every  bookstore  in  the  country,  and  in  Seoul  alone 
there  are  several  circulating  libraries  where  novels  both  in  Chinese 
and  in  pure  Korean  are  found  by  the  hundreds.  Many,  in  fact 
most,  of  these  novels  are  anonymous,  their  character  being  such 
that  they  would  hardly  reflect  credit  upon  their  writers.  And 
yet,  however  discreditable  they  may  be,  they  are  a true  mirror 
of  the  morals  of  Korea  to-day. 

The  customs  which  prevail  in  Korea,  as  in  every  other  Ori- 
ental country,  make  it  out  of  the  question  for  anyone  to  produce 
a “ love  story  ” in  our  sense  of  the  term ; but  as  the  relations  of 
the  sexes,  here  as  elsewhere,  are  of  absorbing  interest,  we  find 
some  explanation  of  the  salacious  character  of  many  Korean 
novels.  Just  as  the  names  of  Aspasia  and  other  hcfaimi  play 
such  an  important  part  in  a certain  class  of  Greek  literature,  so 
the  kisang,  or  dancing-girl,  trips  through  the  pages  of  Korean 
fiction. 


312 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


There  remains  here  in  full  force  that  ancient  custom  which 
antedates  the  printing  of  books,  — of  handing  down  stories  by 
word  of  mouth.  If  a gentleman  of  means  wants  to  “ read  ” a 
novel,  he  does  not  ordinarily  send  out  to  a book-stall  and  buy 
one,  but  he  sends  for  a kwang-da,  or  professional  story-teller, 
who  comes  with  his  attendant  and  drum  and  recites  a story, 
often  consuming  an  entire  day  or  even  two  days  in  the  recital. 
Is  there  any  radical  difference  between  this  and  the  novel?  In 
truth,  it  far  excels  our  novel  as  an  artistic  production,  for  the 
trained  accent  and  intonation  of  the  reciter  add  an  histrionic 
element  that  is  quite  lacking  when  one  merely  reads  a novel. 
This  form  of  recital  takes  the  place  of  the  drama  in  Korea;  for, 
strange  as  it  may  seem,  while  both  China  and  Japan  have  cul- 
tivated the  histrionic  art  for  ages,  Koreans  have  never  at- 
tempted it. 

Fiction  in  Korea  has  always  taken  a lower  place  than  other 
literary  productions,  poetry  and  historj^  being  considered  the  two 
great  branches  of  literature.  This  is  true  of  all  countries  whose 
literatures  have  been  largely  influenced  by  China.  The  use  of 
the  Chinese  character  has  always  made  it  impossible  to  write 
as  people  speak.  The  vernacular  and  the  written  speech  have 
always  been  widely  different,  and  it  has  always  been  impossible 
to  write  a conversation  as  it  is  spoken.  This  in  itself  is  a serious 
obstacle  to  the  proper  development  of  fiction  as  an  art,  for  when 
the  possibility  of  accurately  transcribing  a conversation  is  taken 
away,  the  life  and  vigour  of  a story  are  largely  lost.  Dialect 
stories  and  character  sketches  are  practically  barred.  And  be- 
sides this,  subserviency  of  Chinese  literary  ideals  to  the  historical 
and  poetical  forms  has  made  these  people  cast  their  fiction  also 
in  these  forms ; and  so  we  often  find  that  a genuine  romance  is 
hidden  under  such  a title  as  “ The  Biography  of  Cho  Sang-geun,” 
or  some  other  equally  tame.  It  is  this  limitation  of  the  power 
of  written  language  to  transcribe  accurately  human  speech  that 
has  resulted  in  the  survival  of  the  professional  story-teller,  and 
it  is  the  same  thing  that  has  made  Korean  written  fiction  inferior 


LITERATURE 


313 


and  secondary  to  history  and  poetry.  In  this,  as  in  so  many 
other  things,  Korea  shows  the  evil  effects  of  her  subserviency 
to  Chinese  ideals. 

But  the  question  may  be  asked.  To  what  extent  is  fiction  read 
in  Korea  as  compared  with  other  literary  productions?  There 
is  a certain  small  number  of  the  people  who  probably  confine 
their  reading  to  history  and  poetry,  but  even  among  the  so-called 
educated  classes  the  large  majority  have  such  a rudimentary 
knowledge  of  the  Chinese  character  that  they  cannot  read  with 
any  degree  of  fluency.  There  is  no  doubt  that  these  confine  their 
reading  to  the  mixed  script  of  the  daily  newspaper  or  the  novels 
written  in  the  native  character.  It  is  commonly  said  that  women 
are  the  greatest  readers  of  these  native  books.  This  is  because 
the  men  affect  to  despise  the  native  alphabet,  but  the  truth  is 
that  an  overwhelming  majority,  even  of  the  supposedly  literate, 
can  read  nothing  else  with  any  degree  of  fluency,  and  so  they 
and  the  middle  classes  are  constant  readers  of  the  native  books. 
As  in  America,  so  in  Korea  the  newspapers  and  novels  form  the. 
greater  part  of  the  literary  pabulum  of  the  masses. 

It  is  a hopeful  sign  that  there  is  nothing  about  this  native 
alphabet  or  writing  that  prevents  its  being  used  as  idiomatically 
and  to  as  good  effect  as  English  is  used  in  fiction  to-day;  and 
it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  time  will  soon  come  when  someone 
will  do  for  Korea  what  Defoe  and  other  pioneers  did  for  English 
fiction,  namely,  write  a standard  work  of  fiction  in  the  popular 
tongue. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 


MUSIC  AND  POETRY 

IN  spite  of  the  evidence  to  the  contrary  borne  to  our  ears 
on  every  summer  breeze,  Korean  music  is  not  a myth. 
The  sounds  seem  peculiar  and  far  from  pleasing,  because 
we  do  not  bring  to  them  the  Korean  temperament  and 
training,  but  the  more  artificial  W^estern  ear.  We  complain 
because  they  do  not  “ keep  time  ” ; but  why  should  they  ? There 
is  no  analogy  for  it  in  nature.  The  thrush  does  not  “ keep 
time,”  and  the  skylark,  that  joy  of  Korean  waste  places,  knows 
nothing  of  art.  It  is  a question  whether  music,  as  a pure  expres- 
sion of  feeling,  should  be  hampered  by  “ time  ” any  more  than 
poetry  should  be  hampered  by  rhyme.  There  are  times  when 
both  rhyme  and  time  are  necessary  adjuncts,  and  even  Korean 
music  frequently  shows  a rhythmic  succession  of  notes  which 
closely  approximates  to  what  we  call  “ time.” 

Koreans  like  our  music  as  little  as  we  like  theirs,  and  for 
the  same  reason.  It  means  nothing  to  them.  Our  harmonies 
seem  to  them  like  a veritable  jargon  of  sounds,  but  they  take 
genuine  pleasure  in  that  indescribable  medley  of  thumps  and 
squeaks  which  emanate  from  a Korean  orchestra.  To  us  it 
seems  as  if  there  were  no  rhyme  or  reason  in  it,  but  in  truth 
every  note  is  produced  according  to  a fixed  law.  There  is  a 
distinct  science  of  music  here  that  has  been  in  existence  for 
upwards  of  fifteen  hundred  years.  Every  note  and  cadence  is 
produced  according  to  a specific  law.  It  only  illustrates  what  is 
true  of  all  art,  that  we  must  bring  to  it  a trained  sense  in  order 
to  appreciate  it. 


MUSIC  AND  POETRY 


315 


Each  of  the  Korean  musical  instruments  has  a long  history 
hack  of  it.  The  koinuiigo  may  be  described  as  a long,  narrow 
bass  viol  without  any  neck.  It  lies  upon  the  floor,  and  the 
player  plucks  the  strings  with  his  right  hand  while  he  “ fingers  ” 
them  with  his  left  hand  near  the  “ bridge.”  In  other  words,  he 
reverses  the  method  which  we  adopt  and  plucks  where  we  would 
finger  and  fingers  where  we  would  bow.  The  result  is  not  par- 
ticularly edifying,  but  they  have  never  learned,  even  during 
nearly  seventeen  hundred  years,  that  they  are  playing  at  the 
wrong  end  of  the  instrument.  This  komungo  dates  from  the 
days  of  ancient  Silla,  and  history  takes  particular  pains  to 
describe  its  origin.  The  flute  is  commonly  used  in  Korea,  but 
it  differs  in  shape  from  ours.  If  a Western  flute  were  sawed 
in  two  through  the  mouth  hole,  it  would  approximate  to  the 
Korean  instrument.  It  is  held  squarely  against  the  mouth,  the 
lower  lip  of  the  performer  closing  the  open  end  of  the  tube  while 
he  blows  down  into  the  semicircular  hole.  Of  all  the  Korean 
instruments  this  sounds  most  like  our  Western  ones.  The  flute . 
is  also  a very  ancient  instrument,  for  we  read  in  history  of  a 
jade  flute  that  formed  one  of  the  heirlooms  of  the  Silla  dynasty 
nearly  two  thousand  years  ago.  The  curious  story  is  told  of  it 
that  if  carried  to  any  other  place  than  the  town  of  Kyong-ju, 
the  site  of  the  ancient  Silla,  it  would  emit  no  sound  whatever. 
Koreans  firmly  believe  that  it  is  still  preserved  among  the 
archives  of  that  southern  town.  The  hagejiin,  or  violin,  looks 
like  a large  croquet  mallet  with  a short  handle;  moreover,  the 
head  is  hollow.  The  strings,  two  in  number,  are  stretched  from 
the  head  to  the  end  of  the  handle,  where  they  are  fastened  to  a 
spool-like  peg.  The  hair  of  the  bow  is  interlaced  between  the 
strings  of  the  violin,  and  the  fingering  is  done  by  throwing  the 
thumb  around  the  “ handle  ” and  then  hooking  one  or  other 
of  the  fingers  over  the  strings.  The  result  is  anything  but  edify- 
ing, and  it  is  safe  to  say  that  this  instrument  must  have  existed 
many  centuries  to  have  taken  the  hold  it  has  upon  the  affec- 
tions of  the  Korean  people.  They  have  a species  of  zither. 


3i6 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


which  has  the  peculiarity  of  being  triple-strung,  like  our  modern 
pianos.  It  is  struck  with  a sliver  of  bamboo.  One  ancient  form 
of  instrument  consists  of  a set  of  metal  bangles,  which  are  struck 
as  we  strike  a triangle.  This  is  a very  ancient  instrument,  but 
there  was  an  interval  of  several  centuries  when  not  a single 
sample  of  it  could  be  found  in  the  country.  Only  historical 
notices  remained;  when  fortunately,  or  otherwise,  one  of  them 
was  found  at  the  bottom  of  a well  which  was  being  cleaned. 
This  is  something  of  a commentary  upon  the  frequency  with 
which  the  latter  operation  is  performed.  The  drum  has  existed 
here  from  of  old.  It  takes  various  forms,  and  is  very  com- 
monly used  instead  of  a bell.  In  the  town  of  Taiku  a huge 
drum  is  used  for  this  purpose.  It  is  larger  than  a full-sized 
hogshead.  When  used  for  music,  the  drum  varies  in  size  from 
one  foot  in  diameter  to  three ; but  there  are  various  forms,  — 
the  kettle-drum  and  the  hour-glass  variety,  the  latter  being 
struck  only  with  the  hand.  Strange  to  say,  this  hour-glass  drum 
is  almost  the  only  instrument  used  as  an  accompaniment  for 
singing. 

Vocal  music  is  divided  into  two  distinct  classes,  — the  sijo, 
or  classical  style,  and  the  hach’i,  or  popular  style.  The  former  of 
these  may  be  described  as  extremely  andante  and  trcniuloso, 
and  it  is  frequently  punctuated  by  the  drum.  The  progress  of 
such  a piece  is  very  slow  and  dignified,  and  the  length  of  time 
that  a single  note  is  sometimes  held  makes  one  wonder  whether 
the  singer  will  succeed  in  getting  another  breath.  The  Koreans 
say  that  it  recjuires  long  and  patient  practice  to  render  a classical 
production  well.  can  well  belie^’e  this,  considering  the  time 
it  takes  to  get  used  to  listening  to  it.  It  is  sung  to  perfection 
only  by  the  professional  dancing-girls ; not  because  the  senti- 
ments are  more  properly  expressed  by  them  than  by  more 
respectable  people,  though  this  is  too  often  the  case,  but  because 
they  are  the  only  ones  who  have  the  leisure  to  give  to  its  culti- 
vation. To  the  Westerner  there  is  nothing  pleasing  in  this 
style  of  singing.  It  is  one  succession  of  long-drawn-out  tremu- 


MUSIC  AND  POETRY 


317 


lous  notes  with  no  appreciable  melody.  The  popular  style,  how- 
ever, is  comparatively  like  our  own  singing,  and  through  many 
of  the  songs  there  runs  a distinct  melody  which  can  be  reduced 
to  the  Western  musical  score.  The  element  of  “ time  ” has  been 
considerably  developed,  and  one  can  follow  the  air  with  ease. 
The  following  are  samples  of  a few  of  the  most  popular  motifs 
in  Korean  popular  songs : 


T — 1 [ a 

• r 

=1 

9 <s> 

-^—4  J ^ J- 

—9  9 ^ ■ I j '■ 

9 

=1^^  E - 

kJ 


ryrv  * , 

1 

# • ® -1 

=1 

1 u 9 

S?  • 

- - * 

—1 

-0— 1 — 

PfeW^=f-i^ 

- .-J-j 

— ^ — 

H ^ ^ 

± t ^ 

— F 1— 

H 1 9— 

LC ^ 

11 

cJ 


=i=:]— 

9 0 

1 

■ H d ^ "d 

f S 

• ^ 

I 1 m 

'\s\r  • 

^ r ^ 

I — 1 

— • — r- 

— 1 i — 

h ^1  0-. ! 

---=1  : 

:(9t — U if  d 

t 

-t  " t it 

# — H — 

J — 1 

— ' V 

^ t ^ 

—0 — -p— 

—0— — :: 

q 

— i ^ ^ 

t ^ ^ 

0 



-[=  - 

J 

1 1 

-| 

=i— J — 

— 1 — ^-i■^ 

i 

1 — 1-  v-y 

-0 0—  -| — ^ — #— 

THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


318 

The  Koreans  are  very  fond  of  music,  and  the  children  on 
the  street  are  always  singing.  On  a summer  evening  they  will 
gather  in  little  companies  and  sing  in  unison  their  queer  little 
“ Mother  Goose  ” melodies.  Each  one  shouts  at  the  top  of  his 
or  her  voice,  and  at  a little  distance  the  effect  is  not  disagreeable. 
The  commonest  of  all  these  songs,  and  one  that  is  familiar  to 
every  child  in  Korea,  begins  as  follows : 

On  Saijai’s  slope,  in  Mungyung  town 
We  hew  Xht  paktal  na?mi  down 
To  make  the  smooth  and  polished  clubs 
With  which  the  washerwoman  drubs 
Her  master’s  clothes. 

And  then  follows  a chorus  which  has  about  as  much  sense 
-as  our  own  classical 

Hei  diddle  diddle,  the  cat  and  the  fiddle. 

This  song  has  innumerable  verses,  and  can  be  indefinitely  ex- 
tended by  clever  improvisation. 

In  the  spring,  when  the  grasses  and  rushes  are  beginning  to 
grow,  almost  every  child  will  have  his  little  reed  whistle,  just 
as  American  boys  have  their  willow  whistles,  but  the  Korean 
instrument  is  quite  different  from  ours.  It  is  made  on  the  prin- 
ciple of  the  flageolet.  Two  of  the  reeds  are  usually  tied  together 
so  that  a double  note  is  produced. 

One  of  the  most  characteristic  Korean  sounds  is  that 
of  a very  shrill,  cornet-like  instrument,  which  drones  out  a 
weird  minor  strain  of  a summer  evening.  No  Westerner  will 
ever  quite  understand  why  the  Korean  takes  such  pleasure 
in  the  monotonous  but  strident  note  of  this  implement  of 
torture. 

Music  is  considered  one  of  the  lesser  arts,  not  only  in  Korea 
but  also  in  China.  As  a profession,  music  occupies  much  the 
same  position  here  that  ballet-dancing  does  in  the  West.  The 
’best  that  can  be  said  of  it  is  that  it  is  not  necessarily  disrep- 
utable. There  are  no  professional  singers  in  Korea,  except  the 


MUSIC  AND  POETRY 


319 


■dancing-girls,  and  they  cultivate  music  merely  to  enhance  their 
meretricious  charms.  These  people  have  never  conceived  of 
music  as  a great  moral  force;  it  has  always  been  counted  as 
merely  an  instrument  of  sensual  pleasure,  and  as  such  has  been 
classed  with  dancing,  drinking  and  debauchery.  -It  is  for  this 
reason  that  common  music  is  denominated  cliap-doen  sorai, 
“ low  down  noise,”  by  respectable  people,  and  only  one  song 
in  ten  could  with  decency  be  published. 

These  people  have  a sort  of  musical  notation  which  differs 
radically  from  ours.  It  has  no  staff  and  no  notes,  but  simply 
a string  of  Chinese  characters  which  indicate  in  some  occult 
manner  the  various  cadences.  If  we  were  to  attempt  a com- 
parison with  the  Western  method,  we  might  say  that  it  is  like 
reducing  the  tune  “ Yankee  Doodle  ” to  the  form  do  do  re  mi 
•do  mi  re  si  do  do  re  mi  do  si  sol,  etc. 

We  must  not  forget  the  Korean  labour  songs,  which  form, 
to  the  Western  ear,  the  most  charming  portion  of  Korean  music. 
The  peculiar  and  elusive  rhythm  of  these  songs  is  quite  unique 
in  its  way.  It  captures  the  ear,  and  you  find  yourself  humming 
it  over  to  yourself  ad  nauseam.  It  is  a curious  psychological 
study.  Throughout  the  East  there  is  a lack  of  the  personal  ele- 
ment. Individuality  is  adumbrated,  and  men  count  themselves 
not  so  much  integral  factors  of  society  as  mere  fractions  of  a 
social  whole.  The  unit  of  society  is  not  the  individual  nor  even 
the  family,  but  it  is  the  clan,  the  company,  the  crowd.  Thus 
in  their  work  they  band  together  and  accomplish  tasks  by  the 
multiplication  of  muscle.  This  necessitates  a rhythmic  motion, 
in  order  that  force  may  be  applied  at  the  same  instant  by  every 
arm.  Each  band  of  ten  or  twelve  workers  has  its  leader,  whose 
only  duty  is  to  conduct  the  chorus.  He  stands  at  one  side  and 
chants  a strain  of  four  syllables,  and  immediately  the  men  take 
it  up  and  repeat  it  after  him.  No  work  is  done  while  he  is 
singing,  but  as  the  men  take  up  the  chant  they  all  heave  to- 
gether. It  seems  a great  waste  of  time,  but  it  would  be  very 
difficult  to  get  Koreans  to  do  certain  forms  of  work  in  any 


320 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


other  way.  The  following  indicates  very  imperfectly  a Korean 
labour  song: 


Leader 


Men 


Leader 




1 

N— 

— M 

—0— 0 0— 

— 0— 0 

0 1 

Take  a hold  there  Take 
Men  Leader 


a hold  there  Don’t  be  laz 
Men 


Don’t  be  laz  - y Whoop  her  up 
Leader  Men  Leader 


Whoop  her  up 
Men 


2d: 


^0- 


Ho,  there!  Ho,  there ! Knock ’em  sil  - ly  Knock  ’em  sil  - ly 
Leader  Men  All  Together 


Now  the  cho  - rus  Now 


ah 


Hey 


ah  I 


The  leader  uses  mostly  a certain  set  formula,  but  now  and 
again  he  will  improvise  in  a most  amusing  way,  to  the  great 
delight  of  the  men.  They  all  seem  to  be  in  good  humour,  and 
are  apparently  able  to  make  their  work  seem  like  play. 

In  connection  with  music  we  must  take  up  the  subject  of 
Korean  poetry,  since  this  forms  the  subject  matter  of  their  vocal 
music. 

Dialect  stories  are  interesting  because  of  their  raciness,  due 
to  oddities  of  idiom  and  pronunciation;  but  these  peculiarities 
are  not  felt,  of  course,  by  the  people  of  whom  it  is  the  ordinary 
mode  of  speech.  The  humour  of  most  dialect  stories  is  of  that 
low  order  which  rests  simply  upon  incongruity.  So  it  is  that 
we  are  sometimes  deceived  when  it  comes  to  the  poetry  of  other 
peoples,  or  even  to  the  life,  customs  and  manners  of  other 


MUSIC  AND  POETRY 


321 


peoples.  When  a Korean  says  to  you,  Is  not  the  great  man’s 
stomach  empty  ? ” it  makes  you  smile,  whereas  to  him  it  means 
simply,  “ Are  n’t  you  hungry?  ” 

This  is  my  reason  for  rejecting  all  literal  translations  of 
Korean  poetry.  Such  translations  would  not  convey  to  us  the 
same  sensation  that  the  original  does  to  the  Korean ; and,  after 
all,  that  is  what  we  are  primarily  after.  The  first  difficulty  lies 
in  the  fact  that  Korean  poetry  is  so  condensed.  A half-dozen 
Chinese  characters,  if  properly  collocated,  may  convey  more 
meaning  than  a whole  paragraph  in  English.  One  song,  for 
instance,  states  the  matter  as  baldly  as  this : 

This  month,  third  month,  willow  becomes  green ; 

Oriole  preens  herself; 

Butterfly  flutters  about. 

Boy,  bring  zither.  Must  sing. 

It  cannot  be  said  that  this  means  nothing  to  us,  but  the  bald 
translation  conveys  nothing  of  the  feeling  which  the  Korean 
experiences  when  he  sees  the  original.  If  I have  at  least  par- 
tially caught  the  inner  sense  of  it,  the  following  would  better 
represent  what  it  means  to  the  Korean : 

The  willow  catkin  bears  the  vernal  blush  of  summer’s  dawn 
When  winter’s  night  is  done. 

The  oriole  that  preens  herself  aloft  on  swaying  bough 
Is  summer’s  harbinger. 

The  butterfly,  with  noiseless  ful-fiil  of  her  pulsing  wing, 

Marks  off  the  summer  hour. 

Quick,  boy!  My  zither!  Do  its  strings  accord ? ’T is  well.  Strike  up. 
For  I must  sing. 


Another  purely  Korean  poem  that  would  appear  utterly 
insipid  to  the  uninitiated  might  be  rendered  freely: 

O mountain  blue. 

Be  thou  my  oracle.  Thou  stumbling-block  to  clouds, 

Years  have  not  marred  thee  nor  thine  eye  of  memory  dimmed. 

Past,  present,  future  seem  to  find  eternal  throne 
Upon  thy  legend-haunted  crest.  O mountain  blue. 

Be  thou  my  oracle. 


22 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


O mountain  blue. 

Deliver  up  thy  lore.  Tell  me,  this  hour,  the  name 
Of  him,  most  worthy  — be  he  child,  or  man,  or  sage  — 

Who  ’neath  thy  summit,  hailed  to-morrow,  wrestled  with 
To-day  or  reached  out  memory’s  hands  toward  yesterday. 

Deliver  up  thy  lore. 

O mountain  blue, 

Be  thou  my  cenotaph  ; and  when,  long  ages  hence. 

Some  youth,  presumptuous,  shall  again  thy  secret  guess, 

Thy  lips  unseal,  among  the  names  of  them  who  claim 
The  guerdon  of  thy  praise,  I pray  let  mine  appear. 

Be  thou  my  cenotaph. 

Here  we  have  a purely  Korean  picture  — a youth  on  his  way 
to  attend  the  national  examination,  his  life  before  him.  He 
has  stopped  to  rest  on  the  slope  of  one  of  the  grand  moun- 
tains of  Korea,  and  he  thinks  of  all  that  must  have  trodden  that 
same  path  to  honours  and  success ; and  as  he  gazes  up  at  the 
rock-ribbed  giant,  the  spirit  of  poetry  seizes  him  and  he  demands- 
of  the  mountain  who  these  successful  ones  may  be.  Between 
the  second  and  third  verses  we  imagine  him  fallen  asleep  and 
the  mountain  telling  him  in  his  dreams  the  long  story  of  those 
worthy  ones.  As  the  youth  awakes  and  resumes  his  journey, 
he  looks  up  and  asks  that  his  name  may  be. added  to  that  list. 
In  what  more  delicate  or  subtle  way  could  he  ask  the  genius  of 
the  mountain  to  follow  him  and  bring  him  success? 

There  is  another  song  that  may  be  placed  in  that  much 
maligned  category  of  “ Spring  poems,”  whose  deprecation  nets 
the  comic  papers  such  a handsome  sum. 

The  Korean  is  your  true  lover  of  springtime.  The  harsh- 
ness of  his  winter  is  mitigated  by  no  glowing  hearth  or  cosey 
chimney-corner,  ^^dnter  means  to  him  a dungeon,  twelve  by 
eight,  dark,  dirty,  poisonous.  Spring  means  to  him  emancipa- 
tion, breathing  space,  pure  pleasure,  — animal  pleasure,  if  you 
will,  — but  the  touch  of  spring  affects  him  to  the  finger-tips  and 
makes  his  senses  “ stir  with  poetry  as  leaves  with  summer  wind.” 
He  is  simply  irrepressible.  He  lit  list  have  song. 


MUSIC  AND  POETRY 


323 


One  branch  of  Korean  classical  music  deals  with  convivial 
songs.  This  looks  somewat  paradoxical,  but  if  Hogarth’s  paint- 
ings are  classical,  a convivial  song  may  be. 

’T  was  years  ago  that  Kim  and  I 
Struck  hands  and  swore,  however  dry 
The  lip  might  be,  or  sad  the  heart. 

The  merry  wine  should  have  no  part 
In  mitigating  sorrow’s  blow 
Or  quenching  thirst.  ’T  was  long  ago. 

And  now  I Ve  reached  the  flood-tide  mark 
Of  life ; the  ebb  begins,  and  dark 
The  future  lowers.  The  tide  of  wine 
Will  never  ebb.  ’T  will  aye  be  mine 
To  mourn  the  desecrated  fane 
Where  that  lost  pledge  of  youth  lies  slain. 

Nay,  nay,  begone ! The  jocund  bowl 
Again  shall  bolster  up  my  soul 
Against  itself.  What,  good-man,  hold  ! 

Canst  tell  me  where  red  wine  is  sold  ? 

Nay,  just  beyond  yon  peach-tree  ? There  ? 

Good  luck  be  thine ; I ’ll  thither  fare. 


We  have  here  first  the  memory  of  the  lost  possibilities  of 
youth;  then  the  realisation  of  to-day’s  slavery,  and,  lastly,  the 
mad  rush  to  procure  that  which  alone  will  bring  forgetfulness. 
Not  an  exclusively  Korean  picture,  svtrely. 

In  central  Korea  there  is  a lofty  precipice  overlooking  a 
little  lakelet.  It  is  called  “ The  Precipice  of  the  Falling  Flowers,” 
and  I venture  to  say  that,  with  no  other  evidence  at  hand  than 
this,  the  reader  would  be  compelled  to  grant  that  Koreans  have 
genuine  poetic  feeling  in  them,  for  the  story  is  something  as 
follows : 


In  Pakche’s  halls  is  heard  a sound  of  woe. 

The  craven  King,  with  prescience  of  his  fate, 

Has  fled,  by  all  his  warrior  knights  encinct. 

Nor  wizard’s  art  nor  reeking  sacrifice 
Nor  martial  host  can  stem  the  tidal  wave 
Of  Silla’s  vengeance.  Flight,  the  coward’s  boon. 
Is  his  ; but  by  his  flight  his  Queen  is  worse 


324 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


Than  widowed;  left  a prey  to  war’s  caprice, 

The  invader’s  insult  and  the  conqueror’s  jest. 

Silent  she  sits  among  her  trembling  maids, 

Whose  loud  lament  and  clam’rous  grief  bespeak 
Their  anguish  less  than  hers.  But  lo  ! She  smiles, 

And,  beckoning  with  her  hand,  she  leads  them  forth 
Without  the  wall,  as  when  in  days  of  peace 
They  held  high  holiday  in  nature’s  haunts. 

But  now  behind  them  sounds  the  horrid  din 
Of  ruthless  war,  and  on  they  speed  to  where 
A beetling  precipice  frowns  ever  at 
Itself  within  the  mirror  of  a pool 
By  spirits  haunted.  Now  the  steep  is  scaled. 

With  flashing  eye  and  heaving  breast  she  turns 
And  kindles  thus  heroic  flame  where  erst 
Were  ashes  of  despair.  “Th’  insulting  foe 
Has  boasted  loud  that  he  will  cull  the  flowers 
Of  Pakche.  Let  him  learn  his  boast  is  vain  ; 

For  never  shall  they  say  that  Pakche’s  Queen' 

Was  less  than  queenly.  Lo  ! The  spirits  wait 
In  yon  dark  pool.  Tliough  deep  the  abyss  and  harsh 
Death’s  summons,  we  shall  fall  into  their  arms 
As  on  a bed  of  down  and  pillow  there 
Our  heads  in  conscious  innocence.”  This  said, 

She  leads  them  to  the  brink.  Hand  clasped  in  hand, 

In  sisterhood  of  woe  ; an  instant  thus  — 

Then  forth  into  the  void  they  leap,  brave  hearts ! 

Like  drifting  petals  of  the  plum,  soft  blown 
By  April’s  perfumed  breath,  so  fell  the  flowers 
Of  Pakche;  but  in  falling  rose  aloft 
To  honour’s  pinnacle. 

The  Korean  delights  in  introducing  poetical  allusions  into 
his  folk-tales.  It  is  only  a line  here  and  there,  for  his  poetry 
is  nothing  if  not  spontaneous.  He  sings  like  the  bird,  because 
he  cannot  help  it.  One  of  the  best  of  this  style  is  the  story  of 
Cho-ung,  who,  after  nailing  to  the  palace  gate  his  defiance  of 
the  usurper  of  his  master's  throne,  fled  to  a distant  monastery, 
and  after  mastering  the  science  of  war,  came  forth  to  destroy 
that  usurper.  The  first  day  he  became  possessed  in  a marvellous 
way  of  a sword  and  a steed,  and  at  night,  still  clad  in  his  monk's 
garments,  he  enjoyed  the  hospitality  of  a country  gentleman. 
As  he  stands  at  the  window  of  his  chamber,  looking  out  upon 


MUSIC  AND  POETRY 


325 


the  moonlit  scene,  he  hears  the  sound  of  a zither,  which  must  be 
touched  by  fairy  fingers;  for  though  no  words  are  sung,  the 
music  interprets  itself. 

Sad  heart,  sad  heart,  thou  waitest  long. 

For  love’s  deep  fountain  thirsting. 

Must  winter  linger  in  my  soul, 

Tho’  April’s  buds  are  bursting? 

The  forest  deep,  at  love’s  behest. 

His  heart  of  oak  hath  riven. 

This  lodge  to  rear,  where  I might  greet 
My  hero,  fortune-driven. 

But  heartless  fortune,  mocking  me. 

My  knight  far  hence  hath  banished; 

And  sends,  instead,  this  cowl-drawn  monk. 

From  whom  love’s  hope  hath  vanished. 

This  throbbing  zither  I have  ta’en 
To  speed  my  heart’s  fond  message; 

To  call  from  heaven  the  Wonang  bird. 

Love’s  sign  and  joy’s  sure  presage. 

But  fate,  mid-heaven,  hath  caged  the  bird 
That,  only,  love’s  note  utters; 

And  in  its  stead  a magpie  foul 
Into  my  bosom  flutters. 

Piqued  at  this  equivocal  praise,  Cho-ung  draws  out  his  flute, 
his  constant  companion,  and  answers  his  unseen  critic  in  notes 
that  plainly  mean : 

Ten  years,  among  the  halls  of  learning,  I have  shunned 
The  shrine  of  love,  life’s  synonym  ; and  dreamt,  vain  youth, 

That  having  conquered  nature’s  secrets  I could  wrest 
From  life  its  crowning  jewel,  love.  ’T  was  not  to  be. 

To-night  I hear  a voice  from  som.e  far  sphere  that  bids 
The  lamp  of  love  to  burn,  forsooth,  but  pours  no  oil 
Into  its  chalice.  Woe  is  me;  full  well  I know 
There  is  no  bridge  that  spans  the  gulf  from  earth  to  heaven. 

E’en  though  I deem  her  queen  in  yon  fair  moon  enthroned. 

The  nearest  of  her  kin,  can  I breathe  soft  enough 
Into  this  flute  to  make  earth  silence  hold  that  she 
May  hear;  or  shrill  so  loud  to  pierce  the  firmament 
And  force  the  ear  of  night  ? 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


326 

However  that  may  be,  he  solved  the  difficulty  by  leaping  over 
the  mud  wall  that  separated  them  and  gained  her  promise  to 
become  his  wife,  which  promise  she  fulfilled  after  he  had  led  an 
army  against  the  usurper  and  driven  him  from  the  throne. 

Korean  poetry  is  all  of  a lyric  nature.  There  is  nothing  in 
the  nature  of  an  epic.  The  language  does  not  lend  itself  to  that 
form  of  expression.  It  is  all  nature  music,  pure  and  simple.  It 
is  all  passion,  sensibility,  emotion.  It  deals  with  personal,  domes- 
tic, even  trivial  matters  oftentimes,  and  for  this  reason  it  may 
be  called  narrow.  But  we  must  remember  that  their  horizon  is 
pitifully  circumscribed.  If  they  lavish  a world  of  passion  on 
a trivial  matter,  it  is  because  in  their  small  world  these  things 
are  relatively  great.  The  swaying  of  a willow  bough,  the  erratic 
flight  of  a butterfly,  the  falling  of  a petal,  the  droning  of  a pass- 
ing bee,  means  more  to  a Korean,  perhaps,  than  to  one  whose 
life  is  broader. 

Here  we  have  the  fisherman’s  song  as  he  returns  from  his 
work  at  night : 

As  darts  the  sun  his  setting  rays 
Athwart  the  shimmering  mere. 

My  fishing-line  reluctantly 
I furl  and  homeward  steer. 

Far  out  along  the  foam-tipped  waves 
The  shower-fairies  trip, 

Where  sea-gulls,  folding  weary  wing, 

Alternate  rise  and  dip. 

A willow  withe  through  silver  gills, 

My  trophies  I display. 

To  yonder  wine-shop  first  I dl  hie; 

Then  homeward  wend  my  way. 

In  the  following  we  find  a familiar  strain.  It  is  the  Korean 
setting  of  “ O for  a lodge  in  some  vast  wilderness ! ” 

Weary  of  the  ceaseless  clamour, 

Of  the  false  smile  and  the  glamour 
Of  the  place  they  call  the  world; 

Like  the  sailor  home  returning, 

For  the  wave  no  longer  yearning, 

I my  sail  of  life  have  furled. 


MUSIC  AND  POETRY 


327 


Deep  within  this  mountain  fastness, 

Minified  by  nature’s  vastness, 

Hermit-wise  a lodge  I ’ll  build. 

Clouds  shall  form  the  frescoed  ceiling. 
Heaven’s  blue  depths  but  half  revealing; 
Sunbeam  raftered,  starlight  filled. 

In  this  lakelet  deep  I ’ll  fetter 
Yon  fair  moon.  Oh,  who  could  better 
Nature’s  self  incarcerate.? 

Though,  for  ransom,  worlds  be  offered, 

I will  scorn  the  riches  proffered, 

Keep  her  still  and  laugh  at  fate. 

And  when  Autumn’s  hand  shall  scatter 
Leaves  upon  my  floor,  what  matter. 

Since  I have  the  wind  for  broom? 

Cleaning  house  mere  play  I’ll  reckon. 

Only  to  the  storm-sprites  beckon. 

With  their  floods  they  ’ll  cleanse  each  room. 


From  this  it  would  seem  that  the  Koreans  cannot  be  charged 
with  a lack  of  imagination  but  rather  with  an  exuberance  of  it. 
The  following  few  lines  to  a mountain  brook  show  that  in  his 
appreciation  of  nature  the  Korean  is  not  far  behind  the  more 
polished  poet  of  the  West. 

O cloud-born  rivulet,  that  down  this  mountain  slope 
Dost  thread  thy  devious  way,  fret  not  thyself  because 
Obstructions  bar  thy  path,  nor  say  “ I may  not  be.” 

The  rock  that  buffets  thee  to-day  shall  melt  away 
Before  thy  constancy.  Thou  ’rt  mightier  than  man ; 

For  though,  by  human  craft,  athwart  thy  humble  course 
Mountains  be  piled,  Time  shall  be  with  thee,  and  ye  twain 
Shall  overtop  them  all.  Though  thou  be  curbed  and  bound. 

Divided,  used,  aye,  soiled,  a thousand  li  shall  seem. 

In  retrospect,  triumphal  progress.  Dost  thou  now. 

Like  trembling  hare,  peep  forth  from  out  yon  covert’s  shade? 

Fear  not,  but  know  that  ere  days  shall  give  birth  to  months. 

Thy  voice  shall  mingle  with  the  chorus  of  the  sea. 

I will  add  but  a single  illustration  of  the  poetic  element  in 
Korean  folk-lore.  It  is  the  legend  of  the  casting  of  the  great 
bell  that  hangs  in  the  centre  of  Seoul. 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


The  master-founder  stands  with  angry  brow 
Before  the  bell,  across  whose  graven  side 
A fissure  deep  proclaims  his  labour  naught. 

For  thrice  the  furnace  blast  has  yielded  up 
Its  glowing  treasure  to  the  mould,  and  thrice 
The  tortured  metal,  writhing  as  in  pain, 

Has  burst  the  brazen  casement  of  the  bell. 

And  now  like  a dumb  bullock  of  the  lists, 

That  stands  at  bay  while  nimble  toreadors 
Fling  out  the  crimson  challenge  in  his  face. 

And  the  hot,  clamouring  crowd  with  oaths  demand 
The  fatal  stroke ; so  hangs  the  sullen  bell 
From  his  thwart  beam,  refusing  still  to  lend 
His  voice  to  swell  the  song  hymeneal. 

To  toll  the  requiem  of  the  passing  dead. 

Or  bid  the  sun  good-night  with  curfew  sad. 

The  master-founder  speaks  : “ If  but  an  ounce 
Of  that  rare  metal,  which  the  spirits  hide 
From  mortal  sight,  were  mingled  with  the  flux, 

It  would  a potion  prove  so  powerful 
To  ease  the  throes  of  birth  and  in  the  place 
Of  disappointment  bring  fruition  glad.” 

And  lo  ! a royal  edict,  at  the  hand 

Of  couriers  swift,  speeds  o'er  the  land  like  flame 

Across  the  stubble-drift  of  sun-dried  plains. 

“ Let  prayer  be  made  to  spirits  of  the  earth 
That  they  may  render  up  their  treasure,  lest 
Our  royal  city,  like  a Muslim  mute, 

Shall  have  no  tongue  to  voice  her  joy  or  pain.” 

The  great  sun  reddened  with  the  altar  smoke; 

The  very  clouds  caught  up  their  trailing  skirts 
And  fled  the  reek  of  burning  hecatombs; 

But  still  the  nether  spirits  gave  no  sign. 

When,  look ! a mother  witch  comes  leading  through 
The  city  gate  a dimpled  child  and  cries; 

“ If  to  the  molten  mass  you  add  this  child, 

’T  will  make  a rare  amalgam,  aye,  so  rare 
That  he  who  once  has  heard  the  bell’s  deep  tone 
Shall  ever  after  hunger  for  it  more 
Than  for  the  voice  of  mother,  wife  or  child.” 

Again  the  furnace  fires  leap  aloft; 

Again  the  broken  fragments  of  the  bell 
Cast  off  their  torpor  at  the  touch  of  flame. 

Unpitying  are  the  hands  that  cast  the  child 
Into  that  seething  mass.  Fit  t3'pe  of  Hell  ! 

Nay,  type  of  human  shame,  that  innocence 


MUSIC  AND  POETRY 


329 


Should  thus  be  made  to  bear  the  heavy  cross 

For  empty  pageantry.  How  could  it  be 

That  Justice  should  permit  the  flowing  years 

To  wash  away  the  mem’ry  of  that  shame 

Nor  did  she.  Through  that  seeming  metal  coursed 

The  life-blood  of  the  child.  Its  fibre  clothed 

A human  soul.  Supernal  alchemy  ! 

And  when  the  gathered  crowd  stood  motionless 
And  mute  to  hear  the  birth-note  of  the  bell, 

And  the  great  tongue-beam,  hung  by  linked  chain 
Aloft,  smote  on  his  brazen  breast,  ’t  was  no 
Bell  cry  that  came  forth  of  his  cavern  throat. 

’T  was  Enuni^  Einmi,  E7nmi,  E7nmille. 

“ O Mother,  woe  is  me,  O Mother  mine  ! ” ^ 

1 The  Koreans  hear  in  the  dull  thud  of  the  wooden  beam  against  the  bell  a far- 
off  resemblance  to  the  word  em-7ni,  which  means  “ mother.”  Hence  the  legend. 


CHAPTER  XXV 


ART 

The  Korean  is  highly  susceptible  to  the  melodies  of 
art,  but  not  to  its  harmonies.  IMay  this  not  be  said 
of  Far  Eastern  art  in  general?  Japan  is  the  home 
of  bijouterie,  but  the  higher  forms  of  art  which 
require  for  their  production  the  genius  of  combination  are  con- 
spicuous by  their  absence.  The  single  exception  may  be  found 
in  Japanese  landscape  gardening,  but  even  here  their  art  is 
dwarfed  and  cramped.  Now  this  ability  to  combine  different 
elements  for  a general  effect  is  quite  lacking  in  the  Korean.  If 
you  go  into  a Korean  gentleman's  garden,  for  instance,  you  may 
find  some  beautiful  plants,  but  huddled  together  in  such  a way 
that  they  can  give  no  pleasure.  The  Korean  way  is  to  pick  out 
one  of  these  and  place  it  by  itself  to  be  admired  as  an  individual 
object.  He  has  no  idea  of  grouping  them  so  that  each  may 
enhance  the  beauty  of  the  others.  However  many  works  of  art 
a Korean  may  possess,  he  will  not  have  more  than  one  or  two 
of  them  exposed  at  a time.  After  one  of  them  has  been  standing 
for  a week  or  two  in  his  sarang,  or  reception  room,  it  will  be 
removed  and  another  substituted  for  it.  In  this  way  he  enjoys 
a variety  and  does  not  soon  tire  of  his  collection.  It  may  be 
objected  that  this  is  not  due  to  ignorance  of  the  effects  of  com- 
bination, but  because  the  Korean  house  is  so  arranged  that  it 
does  not  admit  of  an  effective  combination  of  several  works  of 
art  at  one  and  the  same  time.  \Ye  believe,  however,  that  if 
Koreans  had  any  instinct  for  effective  combinations  they  would 
long  since  have  found  a way  to  make  them  possible. 

It  cannot  be  said  that  the  Korean  is  lacking  in  the  aesthetic 
instinct,  but  its  development  has  been  narrow.  There  has  been 


ART 


331 


no  scientific  development  in  their  art,  no  formulation  of  sesthetic 
laws,  no  intermixture  of  a rational  or  regulative  method.  The 
statement  that  there  is  a pronounced  arithmetical  element  in 
music,  that,  geometry  is  essential  to  successful  landscape  garden- 
ing or  that  a knowledge  of  conic  sections  is  essential  to  bridge- 
building, would  arouse  only  mirth  in  the  Korean.  But  it  is 
nevertheless  true  that  the  lack  of  the  mathematical  element  has 
depri^'ed  all  Asia  of  genuine  martial  music. 

A Korean  house  is  a good  illustration  of  the  statement  that 
bijouterie  is  the  prevailing  aim  of  their  art.  However  large  the 
house  may  be  or  however  spacious  the  site,  the  place  is  divided 
by  a network  of  w^alls  into  a vast  number  of  alleys  and  court- 
yards, each  very  pretty  in  its  way,  but  destroying  all  possibility 
of  effective  combination.  The  wdiole  space  is  frittered  away  in 
a labyrinth  of  cheerless  walls,  which  to  the  Westerner  are  more 
suggestive  of  a prison  than  a residence.  Now  the  Korean 
delights  in  this  bee-hive  sort  of  existence.  Each  suite  of  rooms 
has  its  special  charm  to  him.  In  one  of  them  he  keeps,  perhaps, 
a beautifully  embroidered  screen,  in  another  an  ancient  vase 
Avhich  is  a family  heirloom,  and  in  another  a rare  potted  palm  or 
cactus ; but  he  would  never  think  of  exhibiting  all  these  things 
in  combination. 

One  advantage  that  arises  from  their  one-thing-at-a-time 
form  of  aesthetic  development  is  that  it  can  be  shared  more 
equally  by  high  and  low  alike.  If  a single  floAvering  plant  can 
give  as  much  pleasure  as  a whole  gardenful,  the  poor  man  is 
much  nearer  his  wealthy  neighbour  in  his  opportunities  for 
aesthetic  pleasure  than  is  the  case  in  Western  countries. 

This  method  has  its  advantages.  It  tends  to  a concentration 
of  attention  and  a consequent  exactness  in  detail  which  are  not 
generally  found  in  connection  with  a broader  form  of  art.  His 
embroidered  butterfly  will  be  worked  out  to  a painful  point  of 
exactness,  while  the  perspective  of  the  whole  scene  may  be  ludi- 
crously wrong.  The  Korean  almost  invariably  makes  the  farther 
edge  of  the  table  longer  on  his  can\-as  than  the  nearer  edge,  and 


332 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


I once  saw  a magnificently  embroidered  stork  standing  on  one 
leg,  while  the  other  leg,  which  was  held  up  gracefully,  passed 
behind  a tree  that  stood  at  least  ten  feet  beyond  the  bird.  It 
may  be  that  the  Korean  has  always  been  so  closely  shut  up  by 
walls  that  he  has  never  so  much  as  imagined  such  a thing  as  a 
“ vanishing  point.” 

I am  not  sure  but  it  is  this  love  of  detail  that  has  led  to  the 
introduction  of  the  grotesque  and  monstrous  into  the  art  of  the 
whole  East;  a sort  of  protest  against  their  limitations.  The 
aesthetic  nature  having  been  confined  so  long  in  narrow  channels 
was  forced  to  find  a vent  for  itself  in  some  way,  and  did  so  by  a 
violent  rupture  into  the  realm  of  the  fantastic.  So  we  find  in 
every  picture  some  dwarfed  tree  or  curiously  water-worn  rock, 
— some  malformation  that  excites  the  curiosity.  No  picture  of 
an  ancient  warrior  is  correct  unless  he  has  warts  as  big  as 
walnuts  all  over  his  face,  and  eyebrows  that  rival  his  beard  in 
length. 

As  to  colour  in  art,  the  Koreans  are  still  as  primitive  as  in 
ancient  days.  Their  red  is  the  red  of  blood  or  of  the  peppers 
that  lie  ripening  on  their  roofs.  Their  green  is  the  vivid  green 
of  the  new-sprouting  rice  or  the  dark  blue-green  of  the  pine- 
tree.  Nature’s  colours  are  in  their  art  as  nature’s  sounds  are 
in  their  wonderfully  mimetic  language. 

As  to  form  in  art,  the  Korean  is  strictly  a realist,  except  in 
so  far  as  he  has  impinged  upon  the  realm  of  the  fantastic.  There 
are  no  idealised  expressions  in  his  art,  no  winged  cherubs,  no 
personification  of  any  power  of  nature,  no  Cupid  with  his  bow 
and  arrows;  and  it  is  just  because  of  this  lack  of  imaginative 
power  that  such  a thing  as  aesthetic  combination  is  unthought 
of.  Imagination  is  the  power  of  arranging  and  rearranging 
one’s  mental  furniture  in  such  a way  as  to  produce  new  and 
pleasing,  or  useful,  combinations ; and  if  a man  has  not  this 
power,  the  arrangement  of  his  house  furniture,  the  colours  on 
his  canvas,  the  notes  of  his  music  and  the  flowers  of  his  garden 
must  all  suffer.  It  is  this  lack  which  has  made  Korean  history 


MURAL  DECORATIONS  IN  OLD  PALACE 


ART 


333 


so  bare  of  great  men.  Had  it  not  been  for  the  dreamers  of 
history,  we  should  have  had  no  Columbus,  or  Newton,  or  Hide- 
yoshi  or  Genghis  Khan.  Imagination  is  the  mother  of  enter- 
prise and  the  forerunner  of  achievement,  and  the  lack  of  it  has 
made  Korea  the  “ shrimp  between  two  whales.” 

But  some  may  say  that  the  common  belief  in  evil  spirits  and 
the  genii  of  mountain,  tree  and  stream  implies  a high  degree 
of  imaginative  power.  Not  so;  this  is  nothing  but  instinct,  the 
natural  working  of  the  law  of  self-preservation.  You  might  as 
well  say  that  the  porcupine  has  imagination  because  he  rolls  up 
into  a ball  and  presents  the  thorny  side  of  life  to  the  approaching 
enemy.  The  crudest  method  of  explaining  obscure  phenomena 
is  the  attributing  of  them  to  the  agency  of  demons,  genii  and 
spirits.  So  far  from  being  evidence  of  an  imaginative  nature, 
this  demon  worship  argues  the  very  opposite.  He  fails  to  see 
things  in  their  proper  relations,  and  he  remains  oblivious  of  the 
fact  that,  running  through  these  phenomena,  there  is  a oneness 
of  plan  and  an  adaptation  of  means  to  ends  which  precludes  the 
possibility  of  his  horde  of  spirits.  It  is  moral  instinct  which  has 
led  him  to  reason  out  some  personal  agency  in  the  conduct  of 
human  affairs.  In  other  words,  it  is  conscience,  which,  from  the 
pagan  point  of  view,  does  “ make  cowards  of  us  all.”  The  con- 
sciousness of  personal  demerit  makes  the  Korean  picture  his 
spirits  and  goblins  as  inimical  to  man,  and  produces  that  servility, 
as  distinguished  from  humility,  which  is  indelibly  stamped  upon 
all  pagan  worship. 

But  we  must  hasten  to  enumerate  briefly  some  of  the  most 
conspicuous  forms  of  Korean  art.  We  have  already  mentioned 
music.  Architecture  has  never  been  looked  upon  here  as  a fine 
art.  It  is  entirely  utilitarian,  except  in  the  case  of  royal  palaces 
and  temples,  and  even  here  art  is  exhibited  almost  exclusively 
in  the  decorations.  These  and  other  architectural  decorations 
may  be  passed  by  with  brief  mention,  for  they  are  anything  but 
artistic  to  the  Western  eye.  In  mural  decoration  they  have  pro- 
duced some  pleasing  effects,  but  they  are  very  crude  and  will 


334 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


not  bear  comparison  with  what  goes  under  that  name  in  our 
own  lands.  Embroidery  upon  silk  is  considered  by  Koreans  to 
be  one  of  their  finest  achievements  in  the  line  of  art.  Some  of 
it  is  fairly  well  executed,  but  the  very  best  will  not  begin  to 
compare  with  even  the  medium  grades  in  China  or  Japan. 
Painting  sketches  of  branches  of  trees,  sprays  of  flowers,  bunches 
of  grass,  and  old  stumps  and  rocks  with  a brush  pen  and  India 
ink  is  a favourite  form  of  artistic  work,  and  here  we  find  regu- 
larly formulated  laws.  Each  blade  of  grass  must  droop  in  ac- 
cordance with  a fixed  law,  and  each  flower  must  stand  at  just 
the  right  angle  from  the  stem.  After  many  years  of  familiarity 
with  these  things,  even  the  Westerner  finds  a certain  amount  of 
interest  in  these  pictures,  and  while  they  would  be  called  the 
veriest  daubs  by  the  uninitiated,  we  must  confess  that  they  make 
a certain  approximation  to  what  we  might  call  real  art.  It  is 
a question,  however,  whether  it  is  worth  the  time  it  takes  to 
learn  to  appreciate  it. 

In  the  line  of  ceramics  Korea  has  nothing  to  show.  Long 
centuries  ago  she  may  have  had  some  slight  claims  to  considera- 
tion along  this  line,  but  there  are  very  few  evidences  of  it 
to-day.  It  is  common  for  travellers  to  buy  small  iron  boxes 
ornamented  with  inlaid  silver  or  nickel.  The  work  is  crude,  but 
the  Greek  key  pattern  which  is  usually  followed  redeems  them 
from  utter  contempt.  Some  of  the  silver  filigree  work  that  is 
done,  especially  in  the  far  northeast,  is  worthy  of  mention,  but 
the  artisans  have  only  a few  set  designs,  and  these  they  follow 
so  slavishly  as  to  suggest  the  idea  that  they  are  heirlooms.  In- 
laying mother-o'-pearl  in  a kind  of  lacquer  upon  boxes,  chests, 
and  cabinets  has  a pleasing  effect,  but  the  inartistic  forms  of 
the  objects  thi:s  decorated  detract  much  from  the  general  result. 
In  this  also  the  key  pattern  is  most  prominent. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 


EDUCATION 

IT  has  been  only  in  the  capital  and  in  a few  of  the  promi- 
nent provincial  centres  that  there  has  been  any  consider- 
able modification  of  the  immemorial  methods  of  education, 
and  so  we  will  first  explain  the  old  system,  which  still 
generally  prevails,  and  afterward  note  the  modern  innovations. 

Education,  in  its  narrower  sense  of  scholastic  training,  was 
introduced  into  Korea  from  China  along  with  the  literature  and 
religions  of  that  land.  Both  the  subject  matter  and  the  method 
are  therefore  exotic  rather  than  indigenous.  For  this  reason 
it  is  easy  to  explain  why  Korea  has  no  national  literature  of  a 
distinctive  type.  Through  all  the  long  centuries  education  has 
' meant  the  study  of  the  Chinese  character  and  the  great  classics 
which  form  the  recognised  curriculum  of  China.  Most  educated 
Koreans  can  tell  you  much  more  about  the  history  of  China 
than  they  can  about  their  own  national  history;  just  as  any 
English  or  American  college  boy  can  tell  you  more  about  Latin 
grammar  than  he  can  about  the  grammar  of  his  own  tongue. 

With  the  few  exceptions  to  be  noted  later,  there  are  no  public 
schools  in  Korea.  It  is  only  within  the  last  decade  that  such  a 
thing  as  an  educational  bureau  has  existed  in  Seoul.  Even 
to-day  the  annual  appropriation  for  this  purpose  amounts  only 
to  twenty  thousand  dollars,  a large  part  of  which  is  used  in 
office  expenses. 

Generally  speaking,  education  is  a private  affair  and  has  so 
been  considered  from  the  first.  Every  village  has  its  little  room, 
always  in  a private  house,  where  the  boys  sit  on  the  floor  with 
their  large-print  books  of  Chinese  characters  before  them,  and, 
as  they  sway  back  and  forth  with  half-shut  eyes,  they  drone  out 


336 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


the  sounds  of  the  ideographs,  not  in  unison,  but  each  for  him- 
self. There  is  no  such  thing  as  a class,  for  no  two  of  the  boys 
are  together,  and  to  the  unaccustomed  ear  the  babel  that  results 
is  almost  stunning.  But  the  system  has  its  good  as  well  as  its 
bad  points. 

As  the  boys  are  not  graded,  the  bright  ones  are  not  held  back 
by  the  dull  ones,  nor  are  the  dull  ones  forced  ahead  superficially 
in  order  to  preserve  the  semblance  of  grade.  Each  one  goes 
on  his  merits,  and  individuality  is  developed  more  than  in  our 
schools.  Then,  again,  the  deafening  noise  about  him  compels 
tlie  boy  to  extreme  concentration  upon  his  own  work.  It  is 
difficult  for  us  to  fancy  that  mentality  would  be  possible  under 
the  circumstances,  but  the  truth  is  that  no  one  of  those  shouting 
boys  hears  any  other  than  his  own  voice.  The  outside  confu- 
sion, instead  of  shattering  his  mental  processes,  drives  him  in 
upon  himself  and  probably  enables  him  to  memorise  better  than 
if  he  were  alone.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Chinese  metliod  puts 
a veto  upon  all  esprit  de  corps,  and  the  boy  loses  a large  part  of 
the  beneficial  influence  of  comparison  and  competition. 

The  study  of  the  ideograph  is  a consuming  passion  with  the 
well-born  Korean.  We  talk  about  burning  the  midnight  oil, 
but  the  determined  Korean  student  is  said  to  tie  a string  about 
the  beam  overhead  and  attach  the  end  to  his  top-knot  in  order 
to  keep  himself  from  falling  over  and  going  to  sleep. 

Pedagogy  is  neither  a finished  science  nor  a fine  art  in  Korea. 
It  merely  consists  in  sitting  before  the  boys  with  a stick  and 
seeing  that  each  one  continues  to  shout,  but  there  is  plenty  of 
evidence  that,  under  cover  of  the  noise,  the  urchins  frequently 
talk  with  each  other,  as  the  choir  boys  in  a Devonshire  church 
are  said  to  have  done.  During  an  antiphonal  chant  one  boy 
changed  the  devotional  words  to : “ John,  ye  owe  me  fower 
marbles.”  And  the  reply  came  back  in  sacred  song:  “ You ’m 
a liar ; ’t  is  but  two.” 

However  high  may  be  the  esteem  in  which  letters  are  held, 
the  ordinary  teacher  is  a very  humble  member  of  so-called  good 


EDUCATION 


337 


society.  He  is  treated  politely  by  everyone,  but  he  is  looked 
upon  very  much  as  a pensioner.  He  receives  no  salary,  but  the 
boys  bring  him  frequent  presents,  and  he  ekes  out  a living  in 
some  way.  But  there  is  a more  dignified  side  to  the  question. 
Teaching  seems  to  be  looked  upon  as  a thing  that  cannot  be 
estimated  in  money  value.  You  can  buy  the  services  of  a 
cobbler  or  a mason,  but  knowledge  is  too  fine  a thing  to  be 
bartered.  The  same  holds  true  of  medicine.  The  physician 
takes  no  regular  fee,  but  is  the  recipient  of  a gift  proportionate 
to  the  wealth  of  the  patient  and  the  amount  of  service  rendered. 
Nominally  the  service  is  a gift. 

In  all  Korea  there  is  nothing  corresponding  to  our  learned 
professions,  where  large  fees  are  required  and  the  service  ren- 
dered is  almost  purely  an  intellectual  one. 

Throughout  the  history  of  this  country  the  aim  of  the  boy 
has  been  to  master  the  classics  and  acquire  a literary  style  which 
will  carry  him  through  the  national  examinations  called  kwaga. 
These  were  of  various  kinds.  The  novitiates  in  the  country, 
having  attended  preliminary  examinations  at  the  provincial  capi- 
tals under  the  eye  of  government  examiners,  those  few  who 
were  successful  were  sent  up  to  the  capital,  where  several  kinds 
of  tests  still  awaited  them.  Some  of  these  were  merely  prepara- 
tory or  continuative,  while  others  gave  access  to  the  long-desired 
haven  of  political  preferment. 

Three  or  four  times  every  year  the  capital  would  swarm 
with  men  from  the  eight  provinces  who  had  come  to  make  the 
great  attempt.  Some  of  them  were  old  hands  who  had  tried 
time  and  again  without  success.  Behind  the  Kyong-bok  Palace 
lie  the  deserted  examination  grounds,  where  crowds  gathered 
and  sat  in  groups  under  enormous  umbrellas  writing  furiously 
on  their  essays.  These  were  upon  themes  propounded  by  the 
master  of  ceremonies  or  often  by  the  King  himself.  No  care 
seemed  to  be  taken  to  prevent  communication  between  the  dif- 
ferent aspirants,  and  opportunities  to  bring  in  concealed  manu- 
scripts were  abundant.  All  sorts  of  tricks  were  played,  and  the 


338 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


final  award  was  only  occasionally  a just  one.  The  element  of 
luck  entered  very  largely  into  the  event,  and  there  is  only  too 
much  evidence  that  “ pull  ” had  still  more  to  do  than  fortune. 
And  yet,  in  every  examination,  out  of  a score  of  successful  candi- 
dates two  or  three  at  least  were  honestly  chosen.  It  was  the 
narrow  chance  of  becoming  one  of  this  small  fraction  that 
brought  thousands  of  men  up  from  the  country. 

When  the  paper  was  finished,  the  writer  inscribed  his  name 
in  the  lower  corner,  and  then  slit  the  paper  up  a little  way  and 
folded  the  name  in  and  pasted  it.  The  examiners  were  not 
supposed  to  know  the  name  of  any  writer  until  after  the  merits 
of  his  paper  were  passed  upon.  After  writing  his  name,  the 
candidate  rolled  his  paper  up  and  threw  it  like  a lance  over  a 
barrier  or  fence  made  of  spears  stuck  in  the  ground.  When 
the  names  of  the  successful  ones  were  posted  the  following 
morning,  they  were  dressed  up  in  gala  attire,  and  paraded  about 
the  streets  of  the  capital  on  horseback,  and  received  the  con- 
gratulations of  their  friends.  If  the  fortunate  man  was  a 
countryman,  his  village  went  en  fete  in  his  honour.  This  sys- 
tem of  examinations  was  discarded  ten  years  ago. 

As  education  had  to  do  so  largely  with  the  mastery  of  the 
Confucian  classics,  it  went  hand  in  hand  with  religion,  and, 
though  there  was  no  genuine  educational  bureau,  the  Sung-gynn- 
gzvan,  or  Confucian  School,  in  Seoul  might  be  called  the  centre 
of  education  for  the  country,  just  as  the  Royal  Academy  in 
England  is  the  centre  of  English  art.  This  Confucian  School 
still  exists  as  a sort  of  honorary  institution,  to  which  recog- 
nised scholars  are  appointed  by  the  Emperor,  but  without  emolu- 
ment and  without  any  duties  to  perform.  It  is  not  a school  in 
any  real  sense,  but  a sort  of  scholastic  club  or  college. 

For  the  past  ten  years  education  has  occupied  a place  of 
greater  honour,  and  the  Educational  Department  is  coordinate 
with  that  of  War,  Finance,  Law,  Agriculture  or  Foreign  Affairs. 
The  small  sum  appropriated  shows,  however,  its  relative  status. 
Education  receives  twenty  thousand  dollars,  while  an  almost 


EDUCATION 


339 


entirely  useless  army  receives  one  million  dollars.  In  Seoul  a 
dozen  or  more  , primary  schools  have  been  established,  with  an 
average  attendance  of  about  fifty  boys.  These  are  of  rather 
inferior  grade,  but  they  are  much  better  than  nothing.  Arith- 
metic, geography  and  history  are  taught,  besides  the  Chinese 
character  and  the  Japanese  vernacular.  There  is  a small  normal 
school,  but  it  is  in  native  hands  only  and  its  product  is  of  little 
or  no  account.  The  so-called  Middle  School,  which  is  housed 
in  a substantial  foreign  building,  can  accommodate  three  hun- 
dred students,  but  the  actual  number  is  only  about  sixty.  Two 
foreigners,  American  and  Japanese,  together  with  six  Koreans, 
form  the  faculty  of  this  school.  Besides  the  higher  Korean 
branches,  chemistry,  physics,  botany,  physiology,  general  his- 
tory,  geography,  arithmetic,  algebra  and  geometry  are  taught. 
The  difficulty  in  this,  as  in  all  the  other  schools,  is  that  the  gov- 
ernment gives  no  encouragement  to  the  graduates.  The  student 
expects,  and  has  a right  to  expect,  that  after  graduating  from 
a government  school  he  should  have  a better  chance  to  receive 
official  position  than  ordinary,  uneducated  Koreans.  But  he 
finds  that  nepotism  still  holds  sway,  and  that  personal  and  family 
influence  is  a better  door  to  preferment  than  education.  These 
Korean  youth  have  not  yet  come  to  recognise  education  as  its 
own  reward,  and  so  the  schools  are  almost  empty. 

Many  of  the  Koreans  are  excellent  students,  especially  in 
mathematics.  They  are  quick  to  catch  the  point,  and  in  every 
respect  they  compare  favourably  with  boys  of  the  same  age  in 
WTstern  countries.  There  is  no  doubt  whatever  that  they  are 
the  intellectual  equals  of  the  Japanese.  They  have  lacked  only 
the  opportunity  and  the  incentive. 

There  are  a number  of  important  foreign  language  schools 
in  Seoul,  — English,  French,  German,  Japanese  and  Chinese. 
These  are  successfully  carried  on  by  gentlemen  of  these  various 
nationalities.  The  government  also  employs  a German  musician 
to  train  a native  band  according  to  Western  methods,  and  so 
successful  has  he  been  that  foreigners  hardly  know  which  tO' 


340 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


admire  more,  — the  skill  and  perseverance  of  the  instructor  or 
the  natural  talent  displayed  by  the  pupils. 

In  the  various  provincial  capitals  the  government  has  estab- 
lished, in  a desultory  way,  a number  of  schools  of  intermediate 
grade  which  are  fairly  successful,  but  until  the  public  sentiment 
of  the  people  at  large  rises  to  the  fact  that  education  is  one  of 
the  main  bulwarks  of  the  state,  no  work  of  large  dimensions  can 
be  done.  The  time  will  come. 

Various  missionary  societies  have  established  successful 
schools  in  this  country,  notably  in  Seoul  and  in  Pyeng-yang, 
and  these  institutions  rank  the  highest  in  the  land.  iMany  of 
their  graduates  hold  positions  under  the  government  and  com- 
mand general  respect. 

There  have  been  numerous  attempts  to  establish  private 
schools,  but  the  enthusiasm  seems  to  die  out  after  a few  years, 
funds  run  low  and  the  inevitable  end  comes.  Some  of  these 
have  been  temporarily  successful  and  have  demonstrated  some 
slight  growth  of  public  sentiment  in  the  right  direction. 

One  hopeful  sign  is  the  recent  immense  increase  in  the 
demand  for  reading  matter  throughout  the  land.  Those  who 
have  in  hand  the  ^ale  of  books  say  that  the  demand  has  increased 
fourfold  during  the  past  year. 

One  of  the  most  powerful  educative  influences  is  the  native 
press.  This  agency  has  been  at  work  here  for  some  ten  years, 
and,  while  there  have  been  many  failures,  3’et  it  cannot  be  seri- 
ousl}"  questioned  that  the  various  dail}',  weekly  and  monthly 
papers  have  done  an  enormous  amount  of  good.  The  Korean’s 
idea  of  the  daily  press  is  still  somewhat  crude,  and  is  illustrated 
by  the  fact  that  when  some  statement  is  denied  he  is  very  likely 
to  say,  “ It  must  be  true.  The  paper  says  so.”  It  is  to  be 
hoped  that  the  Korean  press  will  always  retain  and  deserve 
this  reputation  for  veracity,  which  we  fear  had  been  partially 
lost  in  some  lands  we  wot  of.  And  in  truth,  so  far  as  our 
observation  goes,  the  native  papers  make  an  honest  attempt  to 
give  straightforward  and  accurate  news. 


EDUCATION 


341 


The  matter  of  school  text-books  is  still  in  a chaotic  condition. 
Some  people  think  they  should  all  be  printed  in  the  pure  native 
character,  while  the  more  conservative,  together  with  the  gov- 
ernment, opine  that  the  mixed  Chinese  and  Korean  script  should 
be  used.  In  this  mixed  script  the  verbs,  nouns,  adjectives  and 
adverbs  are  expressed  by  Chinese  characters,  and  all  connectives, 
whether  grammatical,  syntactic  or  logical,  are  in  pure  Korean. 
The  result  is  something  like  the  rebus  in  which  words  are  inter- 
spersed with  pictures.  The  system  is  a clumsy  one,  but  it  may 
prove  a useful  stepping-stone  from  the  pure  Chinese  to  the  pure 
Korean.  Not  until  the  Chinese  is  entirely  discarded  will  the 
broadest  general  education  be  possible.  This  is  as  true  of  Japan 
as  it  is  of  Korea.  Meanwhile  all  sorts  of  text-books  are  being 
published,  without  regard  to  consistency,  and  simply  by  private 
and  individual  initiative.  Some  of  the  best  work  in  this  line  is 
being  done  by  missionaries,  who  are  the  pioneers  of  education 
here  as  everywhere  else.  It  is  a hopeful  sign  that  a number 
of  foreigners  here,  among  whom  the  missionaries  largely  pre- 
dominate, have  formed  an  Educational  Association,  and  the 
important  preliminary  work  of  evolving  a uniform  system  of 
nomenclature  for  all  the  sciences  has  been  taken  in  hand. 
This  is  a fundamental  necessity,  and  the  results  can  only  be 
good. 

As  for  industrial  and  technical -schools,  nothing  has  yet  been 
done  in  Korea.  There  have  been  sporadic  attempts  at  agri- 
cultural, mining  and  engineering  schools,  but  they  have  all 
failed,  largely  because  such  education  has  not  been  based  upon 
a previous  mastery  of  the  common  elementary  branches.  Much 
less  has  anything  been  attempted  in  the  line  of  professional 
schools,  if  we  except  the  theological  training  classes  carried  on 
by  the  various  missions.  A few  Koreans  are  studying  medicine 
under  the  foreign  physicians,  and  there  is  a small  law  school, 
but,  with  the  exception  of  a single  Korean  lady  physician 
who  Avas  educated  in  America,  there  are  no  qualified  native 
physicians. 


342 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


A number  of  Koreans  have  graduated  from  American  or 
English  institutions  and  have  returned  to  this  country.  As  a 
rule  these  men  have  done  good  work  here,  and  have  demon- 
strated that  the  natural  intellectual  capacity  of  this  people  is 
equal  to  that  of  any  other. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 


THE  EMPEROR  OF  KOREA 

The  personality  of  any  supreme  ruler  of  an  empire 
or  kingdom  is  a subject  of  interested  comment.  The 
mere  power  which  he  holds  in  his  hands  compels 
attention  to  his  personal  characteristics.  Much  has 
been  written  about  the  Emperor  of  Korea,  mainly  by  transient 
visitors  to  Seoul  who  have  picked  up  such  gossip  as  was  current 
at  the  time  they  passed  through.  Some  of  the  most  libellous 
of  these  statements  appeared  in  a recent  issue  of  one  of  our 
leading  American  magazines  and  written  by  a distinguished 
traveller.  That  writer  spent  two  or  three  weeks  in  Korea,  and 
everyone  of  his  statements  about  the  Emperor  of  Korea  is 
such  as  may  be  picked  up  on  the  streets  of  any  capital  and  is 
worthy  only  of  the  columns  of  our  most  sensational  newspapers. 
They  contain  certain  half-truths  distorted  out  of  all  proper  pro- 
portion and  exaggerated  to  the  point  of  caricature.  The  writer 
knew  nothing  about  the  Emperor  from  personal  acquaintance. 
Some  months  ago  there  appeared  in  the  “ Century  Magazine 
an  article  by  a former  Secretary  of  the  American  Legation  in 
Seoul  which  came  far  nearer  the  truth,  for  that  gentleman  had 
a personal  acquaintance  with  the  Emperor  and  knew  what  he 
was  talking  about.  A comparison  of  those  two  estimates  of  the 
man  will  show  how  wide  is  the  difference  between  irresponsible 
gossip  and  sober  fact. 

The  Emperor  of  Korea  is  now  fifty-five  years  old  and  is  a 
gentleman  of  average  natural  ability,  which  has  been  greatly 
influenced  by  his  environment,  not  always  happily.  At  the  age 
of  twelve  years  he  was  nominated  to  the  throne  by  the  Queen 
Dowager,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  former  King  died  without 


344 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


issue.  His  father  became  regent  until  the  boy  should  attain 
his  majority.  The  regent  was  a fierce  and  relentless  despot, 
who  began  his  career  by  a sanguinary  persecution  of  Roman 
Catholics.  The  boy  lived  in  the  midst  of  unspeakable  atrocities, 
and  was  brought  up  to  believe  that  the  knife,  the  poison  and  the 
torture  are  the  main  implements  of  government.  His  father 
married  him  to  a member  of  the  Min  family,  and  when  the  time 
came  for  the  young  King  to  assume  the  duties  of  his  office,  he 
found  himself  torn  between  filial  duty  toward  his  imperious 
father  and  the  softer  but  no  less  effective  pressure  brought  to 
bear  on  him  by  the  Queen.  She  and  the  regent  were  deadly 
enemies.  Each  of  them  had  a will  far  more  unbending  than 
that  of  the  King,  and  from  the  year  1872  there  was  war  to  the 
knife  between  these  two  individuals,  which  ended  only  with  the 
assassination  of  the  Queen  in  1895  by  the  Japanese. 

We  must  remember  that  in  Korea,  as  in  China,  the  chief 
ruler  is  limited  in  his  actual  power  by  the  fact  that  those  imme- 
diately about  him  can  command  all  avenues  of  information  and 
can  colour  that  information  to  suit  their  own  purposes.  The 
war  between  the  Queen  and  the  regent  opened  when  the  latter 
sent  an  infernal  machine  to  the  father  of  the  Queen,  which 
resulted  in  the  destruction  of  almost  the  entire  family.  If  we 
try  to  imagine  the  state  of  mind  of  a ruler  shut  off  from  full 
access  to  genuine  information  and  surrounded  with  such  instru- 
ments of  death,  with  murder  in  the  hearts  of  those  most  inti- 
mately connected  with  his  own  life,  we  shall  be  able  to  picture 
to  ourselves  the  disabilities  under  which  the  young  King  grew 
up.  In  1882  the  regent  again  tried  to  take  the  life  of  the 
Queen.  The  soldiers  swarmed  into  the  palace,  tore  in  pieces, 
before  the  eyes  of  the  King,  some  of  the  leading  members  of 
the  Queen’s  faction,  and  missed  killing  the  Queen  herself  only 
through  a lucky  accident.  All  this  time  the  King  himself  knew 
not  at  what  instant  the  knife  might  be  put  to  his  own  throat. 
Two  years  later  a band  of  fanatical  men  determined  to  force  the 
government  to  follow  the  example  of  Japan.  They  seized  the 


THE  EMPEROR  OF  KOREA 


345 


person  of  the  King  and  before  his  eyes  slaughtered  seven  mem- 
bers of  his  Cabinet  and  one  of  his  most  trusted  personal  ser- 
vants. The  Japanese,  who  backed  this  desperate  and  sanguinary 
enterprise,  had  to  retire,  and  things  went  on  as  before ; but 
what  sort  of  training  was  this  for  a young  King  just  entering 
upon  his  reign?  It  is  only  to  be  wondered  at  that  his  nerves 
survived  the  strain  at  all.  In  1895  occurred  the  unspeakable 
monstrosity  of  the  cold-blooded  murder  of  the  Queen  at  the 
instigation  of  the  Japanese  minister,  when  the  regent,  rioting 
in  fierce  joy  of  a borrowed  power,  saw  the  fruition  of  his  long 
desire.  All  during  that  terrible  time  the  King  lived  in  momen- 
tary dread  of  assassination.  And  who  can  wonder?  Did  not 
every  circumstance  in  the  case  warrant  his  fear  of  sudden  death  ? 
He  was  surrounded  by  a Cabinet  composed  of  men  thoroughly 
in  the  hands  of  Japan,  and  was  virtually  a prisoner.  For  weeks 
he  refused  to  eat  a mouthful  of  food  except  what  was  sent  in 
a locked  box  from  the  house  of  an  American  missionary,  such 
was  his  fear  of  poison.  Finally  the  strain  became  too  great. 
He  could  endure  the  suspense  no  longer.  After  trying  in  vain 
to  secure  asylum  in  the  American  legation,  he  threw  himself 
into  the  arms  of  Russia  by  a secret  flight  from  the  palace.  For 
a time  he  had  rest  in  the  Russian  legation,  where,  be  it  said  to 
the  lasting  credit  of  Mr.  Waeber,  no  pressure  was  brought  to 
bear  upon  him  to  give  Russia  predominant  power  in  the  penin- 
sula. Doubtless  this  was  why  Mr.  Waeber  was  removed  to 
make  room  for  a more  strenuous  man.  He  was  too  good  for 
Russia.  This  situation  could  not  continue  indefinitely,  but  the 
King  would  not  go  back  to  his  old  palace  which  had  witnessed 
such  a tragedy.  He  built  a smaller  one  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
foreign  legation,  where  he  would  be  near  help  in  case  of  trouble. 
His  nerves  had  been  hopelessly  shattered.  Originally  a man  of 
ordinary  ability,  the  scenes  through  which  he  -had  passed  had 
stamped  their  impress  upon  him,  and  he  had  come  to  believe 
that  craft  was  the  only  available  instrument  to  use.  When 
Mr.  Waeber  was  superseded  by  a less  scrupulous  man,  the  posi- 


346 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


tion  of  the  King  was  rendered  more  difficult.  It  was  necessary 
to  play  off  Russian  against  Japanese  in  order  to  steer  clear  of 
the  clutches  of  both.  The  Emperor  had  been  brought  by  hard 
experience  to  believe  that  all  talk  of  reform  was  but  an  arrow 
aimed  at  him  personally,  and  he  was  intensely  suspicious  of  any 
curtailment  of  his  own  prerogatives.  He  was  and  is  a man  of 
kindly  nature,  and  he  hates  suffering  and  pain  in  every  form, 
whether  for  himself  or  his  people.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
under  the  selfish  advice  of  interested  ministers  he  has  allowed 
the  extortion  of  money  from  the  people,  but  no  one  who  knows 
him  can  believe  that  he  has  ever  wantonly  and  knowingly  in- 
flicted suffering  upon  his  subjects.  There  have  been  countless 
cases  in  which  he  has  proved  the  contrary.  One  little  incident 
will  illustrate.  Near  the  Altar  to  Heaven,  where  he  went  to 
assume  the  title  of  Emperor,  a foreigner  was  building  a house. 
The  rafters  had  been  put  on,  but  the  roof  was  not  covered.  A 
host  of  Koreans  swarmed  into  the  yard  and  climbed  to  the  roof 
to  look  down  upon  the  ceremony  in  the  adjoining  compound. 
The  American  was  extremely  uneasy,  for  this  was  far  outside 
the  limits  of  ordinary  courtesy,  and  he  hastened  to  force  the 
Koreans  down;  but  the  Emperor,  noticing  the  commotion  and 
divining  the  cause,  sent  a special  messenger  in  haste  to  say  that 
the  Koreans  need  not  be  disturbed.  This  is  only  a trivial  case, 
but  there  are  others.  Nothing  could  exceed  the  solicitude  of 
the  Emperor  when,  last  year,  the  ludicrous  attempts  at  monetary 
reform  had  driven  the  merchants  to  desperation.  He  tried  to 
help  them  by  lending  several  hundred  thousand  yen  to  them 
to  tide  them  over  the  crisis,  and  the  fact  that  the  Japanese  would 
not  allow  him  to  do  it  cannot  detract  from  the  credit  that  is 
due  him. 

Aluch  has  been  said  of  his  superstitiousness.  This  is  based 
largely  upon  the  fact  that  the  women  of  the  palace,  who  share 
with  other  Korean  women  the  unhappy  legacy  of  illiteracy, 
have  often  called  in  various  kinds  of  sorceresses  and  mounte- 
banks for  their  own  delectation.  The  King  has  indulged  them 


THE  EMPEROR  OF  KOREA 


347 


in  this  caprice,  and  it  is  possible  that  he  may  have  amused  him- 
self now  and  then  in  listening  to  the  extravaganzas  of  these 
spirit  mediums,  but  that  he  gave  any  more  heed  to  them  than 
any  other  educated  Korean  gentleman  would  is  incredible.  This 
sort  of  talk  belongs  in  the  category  of  those  racy  accounts  given 
by  tourists,  who  move  heaven  and  earth  to  get  an  audience  with 
the  Emperor,  and  then  come  home  to  criticise  the  quality  of 
his  wines  and  sneer  at  his  manners. 

The  Koreans  have  been  called  a people  of  inferior  intelli- 
gence, but  the  truth  is  that  in  pure  diplomacy,  finesse,  they  have 
outwitted  the  Japanese  at  every  point  during  the  past  quarter 
of  a century.  In  1884,  in  1894,  in  1904  the  Koreans  out- 
manoeuvred the  Japanese  in  diplomacy,  and  it  was  only  by  com- 
ing in  with  the  sword  that  the  latter  carried  her  point.  At  the 
beginning  of  the  last  war  Korea  received  from  Japan  a definite 
promise  to  preserve  the  independence  of  the  Korean  government. 
Japan  felt  called  upon  to  give  this  guarantee  because  she  needed 
something  in  return,  namely,  the  passivity  of  the  Korean  people 
and  their  good  will  during  the  war.  Korea  believed  the  promise, 
but  when  the  need  of  keeping  her  quiet  had  passed  Japan  by  an 
act  of  unparalleled  treachery  proved  that  her  word  was  not  as 
good  as  Russia’s;  for  while  Russia’s  retention  of  Manchuria 
was  only  the  postponement  of  a promised  evacuation,  the  seizure 
of  Korea  was  an  absolute  and  unblushing  refusal  to  pay,  for 
favours  shown,  the  price  that  had  been  definitely  agreed  upon. 
There  is  no  sophism  that  can  evade  this  fact. 

Attention  must  be  called  to  the  way  the  Emperor  of  Korea 
has  always  treated  Americans  and  American  interests.  Nothing 
has  been  too  good  for  us.  We  have  had  the  best  gold-mining 
•concession,  the  first  railroad  concession,  *the  leading  place  in 
education,  the  unbounded  confidence  of  both  King  and  people. 
We  built  the  first  electric  tramway  and  lighting  plant.  We 
obtained  the  important  concession  for  supplying  the  city  of  Seoul 
with  a modern  water  system.  All  these  things  have  been  given 
os  almost  without  the  asking.  Nowhere  in  the  world  has  there 


348 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


been  a more  open  field  for  the  investment  of  /\merican  capital. 
The  Korean  Emperor  and  people  have  always  looked  to  us 
as  the  one  power  that  had  no  political  wire  to  pull,  no  axe  to 
grind,  no  purely  selfish  policy  to  carry  out.  But  in  the  face  of 
all  this,  we  have  been  the  first  to  push  her  over  the  brink,  to 
accept  the  outrage  of  November  17,  1905,  without  loud  and 
instant  protest.  Why  did  the  world  objurgate  the  failure  of 
Russia  to  keep  her  promises  in  Manchuria  and  condemn  her  as 
the  international  felon  and  then  turn  about  and  allow  Japan  to 
stultify  herself  tenfold  worse  in  Korea  without  protest? 

Those  who  have  been  on  the  spot  and  watched  closely  the 
tragic  culmination  can  see  something  of  how  the  nature  of  the 
Emperor,  warped  by  terrible  vicissitudes  and  held  for  months 
at  a time  in  the  most  heart-breaking  suspense,  has  been  dwarfed 
and  shrivelled  in  the  furnace.  And  yet  at  this  very  hour  he 
stands  firm  in  his  loyalty  to  his  people.  He  denounces  the 
so-called  treaty  of  November,  1905,  and  demands  the  attention 
of  the  powers  to  Japan’s  treachery. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 


WOMAN’S  POSITION 

IT  is  a trite  saying  that  the  civilisation  of  a people  may  be 
gauged  by  the  treatment  accorded  to  women.  This  is 
only  partially  true,  for  in  the  various  races  of  mankind 
special  conditions  make  special  rulings  necessary.  For 
instance,  in  Thibet,  where  there  seems  to  be  a great  preponder- 
ance of  males,  the  practice  of  polyandry  prevails;  but  however 
disgusting  this  may  appear  to  the  Western  taste  or  the  Western 
conscience,  it  does  not  place  the  Thibetan  on  a lower  plane  of 
civilisation  than  the  Escjuimaux  who  do  not  practise  polyandry. 
Again,  in  China,  and  in  all  lands  that  have  been  permeated  by 
Confucian  principles,  the  prime  necessity  of  securing  male  issue 
has  largely  influenced  the  position  of  woman  and  made  her  lot 
more  tolerable  than  in  Turkey  or  Persia;  but  we  cannot  argue 
from  this  that  Chinese  civilisation  is  at  all  in  advance  of  that 
of  Turkey  or  Persia.  We  must  look  to  the  causes  underlying 
the  better  or  worse  treatment  of  women,  in  order  to  discover 
whether  it  is  a true  index  of  a people’s  civilisation. 

When  India  Avas  opened  to  the  world,  the  West  cried  out 
in  horror  against  the  brutal  custom  of  the  self-immolation  of 
widows.  But  even  this  was  due  to  natural  causes.  It  was  a 
great  preventive  law  which  forced  all  wives,  for  the  sake  of 
their  own  happiness,  to  guard  most  sedulously  the  health  of 
their  husbands.  The  common  use  of  poison  in  the  tropics, 
added  to  the  crafty  and  vindictive  nature  of  the  people,  made 
this  cruel  law,  if  not  necessary,  at  least  intelligible. 

In  the  same  way  the  people  of  the  West  are  moved  with 
righteous  indignation  because  the  women  of  the  Far  East  are 
kept  so  secluded  and  are  not  allowed  that  free  intercourse  with 


350 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


their  fellow-men  that  is  accorded  women  in  the  West.  This 
feeling  is  also  in  a sense  misplaced,  for  though  the  condition 
of  woman  in  Asia  is  deplorable,  we  should  rather  criticise  the 
moral  status  of  the  people  at  large,  which  renders  the  seclusion 
of  woman  a necessity,  than  to  find  fault  with  the  mere  fact. 
Such  seclusion  is  a mean  between  the  promiscuity  of  savage 
tribes  and  the  emancipated  condition  of  women  in  enlightened 
countries.  It  is  as  much  better  than  the  former  as  it  is  worse 
than  the  latter.  There  can  be  no  question  that  it  is  Christianity 
which  has  brought  about  the  desirable  conditions  that  prevail  in 
the  West,  and  we  need  look  for  no  such  conditions  in  the  East 
until  it  is  permeated  with  ideas  emanating  from  Christian  stand- 
ards. We  affirm,  then,  that  under  existing  moral  conditions  the 
seclusion  of  woman  in  the  Far  East  is  a blessing  and  not  a 
■curse,  and  its  immediate  abolishment  would  result  in  a moral 
chaos  rather  than,  as  some  suppose,  in  the  elevation  of  society. 

The  discussion  of  woman’s  position  in  Korea  falls  under 
several  general  heads,  such  as  seclusion,  occupation,  education, 
punishments,  property  rights,  testamentary  rights,  divorce,  court- 
ship and  marriage,  religion,  etc. 

The  degree  of  seclusion  which  a Korean  woman  enjoys 
■depends  upon  the  position  she  holds  in  society.  Broadly  speak- 
ing, there  are  three  classes,  Avhich  may  best  be  termed  the  hon- 
ourable, the  respectable  and  the  disreputable.  As  might  be 
■expected,  the  seclusion  of  women  here  corresponds  to  what  we 
call  “ exclusiveness  ” in  the  West.  The  higher  her  position,  the 
more  complete  is  her  seclusion.  And  just  as  women  in  America 
or  Europe  pride  themselves  upon  their  exclusiveness,  so  women 
here  pride  themselves  upon  the  fact  that  no  male  person  outside 
the  immediate  household  ever  sees  their  faces. 

Up  to  the  age  of  ten  or  twelve  years,  the  little  girl  of  good 
family  enjoys  considerable  freedom,  and  can  play  in  the  yard 
and  see  anyone  that  comes ; but  the  time  arrives  when  she  must 
never  be  seen  without  the  cliangot,  or  sleeved  apron,  over  her 
head  held  close  about  her  face.  From  that  time  she  remains 


WOMAN’S  POSITION 


351 


mostly  indoors,  and  is  familiarly  seen  only  by  the  members  of 
the  household  and  the  immediate  relatives.  This  stage  of  her 
life  is  short,  for  she  is  married  young  and  goes  to  take  her  place 
in  the  family  of  her  husband.  After  that  time  she  can  be  seen 
and  conversed  with,  face  to  face,  only  by  the  following  male 
members  of  the  family:  her  husband,  father,  father-in-law, 
uncle,  cousin,  second  cousin,  etc.,  down  to  what  the  Koreans  call 
the  “ eighth  joint,”  which  means  about  fourth  cousin  with  us. 
It  will  at  once  appear,  therefore,  that  a Korean  woman  is  not 
entirely  cut  off  from  association  with  gentlemen,  for,  in  a country 
where  families  are  so  large  as  in  Korea,  the  number  of  men 
within  these  prescribed  degrees  may  be  anywhere  from  twenty 
to  two  hundred.  But  none  of  these  will  ever  enter  the  inner 
part  of  the  house  except  by  invitation  of  the  husband  and  in  his 
company. 

After  a young  bride  arrives  at  the  home  of  her  husband,  she 
will  have  free  access  to  the  private  rooms  of  her  new  father 
and  mother,  even  as  their  own  daughters  do,  but  neither  her 
father  nor  any  other  man  except  her  husband  will  ever  step 
inside  her  private  rooms,  except  under  stress  of  sickness  or  other 
imperative  cause.  If  any  of  her  male  relatives  are  to  see  her, 
it  must  be  in  the  rooms  of  her  father  and  mother.  This  does 
not  apply  to  the  young  brothers  of  her  husband,  who  may  come 
into  her  room  upon  invitation  up  to  the  age  of  thirteen,  after 
which  they  too  are  excluded.  If  there  are  two  married  brothers 
living  at  their  father’s  house,  neither  of  them  can  enter  the 
private  rooms  of  the  other,  though  each  can  meet  the  wife  of 
the  other  in  the  rooms  of  the  parents.  If,  however,  a young 
man  marries  and  sets  up  an  establishment  of  his  own,  he  becomes 
the  head  of  the  house,  and  any  of  his  male  relatives,  or  hers, 
down  to  the  “ eighth  joint,”  can  enter  the  inner  rooms  upon 
invitation  of  the  husband,  but  they  will  never  do  this  unless 
there  is  some  special  reason  for  seeing  the  wife,  since  the  hus- 
band will  be  sure  to  have  a sarang,  or  general  reception  room, 
where  he  meets  all  his  male  friends. 


352 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


As  a rule,  a lady  may  go  and  visit  her  lady  friends  with 
considerable  freedom,  but  she  must  always  leave  word  at  home 
exactly  where  she  is  going.  She  will  go  in  a closed  “ chair  ” 
carried  by  two  men.  The  chair  is  brought  to  her  door,  the  men 
retire  till  she  has  entered,  and  when  she  arrives  at  the  friend’s 
house,  the  men  set  down  the  chair  and  retire  while  she  is  getting 
out.  She  will  invariably  be  accompanied  by  a slave  girl  or  other 
female  servant  who  runs  along  beside  the  chair.  Arrived  at  the 
friend’s  house,  she  enters  the  inner  rooms,  and  while  she  is 
there  neither  the  friend’s  husband  nor  any  other  man  may  enter, 
unless  he  should  chance  to  be  within  the  prescribed  limits  of 
consanguinity.  A lady  of  wealth  or  even  of  moderate  means 
will  not  walk  on  the  street,  although  this  is  permissible  provided 
she  keeps  her  face  carefully  hidden  by  the  changof. 

Women  of  the  middle  class  are  not  so  secluded  as  those  of 
the  upper  class,  and  yet  they  will  never  be  seen  on  the  street 
without  the  head  covering.  At  their  homes  they  may  be  seen  by 
any  male  relative  down  to  the  “ tenth  joint.”  We  see,  then,  that 
women  of  the  middle  class  are  visible  to  relatives  two  degrees 
further  removed  than  those  by  whom  her  higher  sister  may 
be  seen ; and  besides  this,  it  is  far  less  common  for  a man  of 
the  middle  class  to  possess  a general  reception  room,  and  the 
result  is  that  relatives  are  much  oftener  invited  into  the  inner 
rooms.  The  statement  sometimes  made,  that  no  respectable 
Korean  woman  will  ever  be  seen  walking  on  the  street,  is  very 
far  from  the  truth.  Hundreds  of  them,  may  be  seen  every 
day. 

\\^omen  of  the  lower  or  so-called  disreputable  class  include 
dancing-girls,  slaves,  courtesans,  sorceresses  and  Buddhist  nuns. 
I am  speaking  now  from  the  Korean  point  of  view.  A slave  or 
a nun  may  be  a respectable  person,  but  she  is  classed  with  the 
others  by  Koreans.  They  are  subject  to  none  of  the  laws  of 
seclusion  that  apply  to  so-called  reputable  people.  In  fact,  they 
are  not  allowed  to  use  the  changot  to  cover  the  face.  A possible 
exception  may  be  found  in  the  courtesan,  who  may  cover  the 


WOMAN’S  POSITION 


353 


head,  but  is  not  allowed  to  use  the  pad  or  cushion  on  top  of  the 
head  by  which  the  chan  got  is  supported. 

Besides  these  women  of  the  lower  orders,  there  are  a few 
others  that  never  cover  the  head  and  who,  although  entirely 
respectable,  may  be  seen  by  men  without  reproach.  These  are 
lady  physicians,  of  whom  there  are  many  in  Korea,  and  blind 
female  exorcists.  Women  of  even  the  upper  class  may  enter  the 
medical  profession,  and  it  is  said  that  many  of  them  are  very 
expert  at  acupuncture,  which  is  about  all  the  surgery  that  the 
Esculapian  art  can  boast  here. 

Although  women  of  the  upper  and  middle  classes  cover  the 
face  on  the  street,  yet  this  concealment  is  by  no  means  so  com- 
plete as  among  the  women  of  Turkey,  for  the  chan  got  is  simply 
held  together  before  the  face  with  the  hand,  and  frequently  the 
entire  face  is  exposed.  Elderly  women  of  entire  respectability 
often  take  little  or  no  pains  to  observe  the  rule  strictly,  but  one 
would  seldom  have  an  opportunity  of  catching  a glance  at  more 
than  one  eye  and  a small  portion  of  the  face  of  a young  woman. 

In  an  afternoon’s  walk  through  the  streets  of  Seoul  you  will 
see  hundreds  of  women  going  about  without  any  head  covering 
whatever.  They  are  mostly  slaves.  Now  and  then  a dancing- 
girl  will  be  seen  riding  on  a pony  or  in  an  open  chair  with 
uncovered  face,  and,  if  a wedding  procession  passes,  a large 
number  of  unveiled  women  with  enormous  piles  of  hair  on  their 
heads  will  be  seen  carrying  gaily  decorated  boxes  in  which  are 
kept  the  “ plenishings  ” of  the  bride.  These  all  belong  to  the 
low  class. 

It  may  be  said  in  a general  way  that  the  chief  occupation 
of  the  respectable  Korean  woman,  whether  of  high  or  low  degree, 
is  motherhood.  Like  the  ancient  Hebrew  woman,  she  says, 
“ Give  me  children  or  I die.”  This  springs  from  the  instinct 
for  self-preservation.  The  Confucian  code  renders  male  off- 
spring a sine  qua  non  of  a successful  life,  and  a woman  who 
brings  her  husband  no  children  is  doubly  discredited.  There  is 
no  more  valid  cause  for  divorce  in  Korea  than  barrenness. 


354 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


There  are  no  “ old  maids  ” here.  It  becomes  a matter  of  public 
scandal  if  a girl  passes  her  twentieth  year  without  settling  in  a 
home.  Of  course,  in  the  case  of  cripples  or  incompetents  it  is 
a little  difficult  to  arrange,  but  many  a young  man  takes  his  bride 
home  only  to  find  out  that  she  is  a deaf-mute  or  cross-eyed  or 
humpbacked  or  partially  paralysed.  This  is  a triumph  for  the  old 
woman,  the  professional  go-between,  whose  skill  in  “ working 
off  ” these  unmarketable  goods  upon  unsuspecting  swains  is  pro- 
verbial. But  the  balance  is  even  as  between  the  brides  and 
grooms,  for  a nice  girl  as  often  finds  herself  married  to  a drunk- 
ard or  a case  of  non  compos  mentis. 

The  Korean  woman’s  main  business  then  is  wifehood  and 
motherhood;  but  even  so,  there  are  many  opportunities  for  her 
to  help  along  the  family  finances  and  supplement  the  wages  of 
a husband  who  is  too  often  shiftless  and  dependent  or  even 
worse. 

First,  as  to  occupations  open  to  women  of  the  upper  class. 
Strange  as  it  may  seem,  the  only  kind  of  shop  such  a woman  can 
keep  is  a wine-shop.  Of  course  she  never  appears  in  person, 
but  if  her  house  is  properly  situated  she  can  turn  a portion  of 
it  into  a wine-shop,  where  customers  can  be  served  by  her  slave 
or  other  servant.  No  lady  would  ever  think  of  selling  cloth  or 
vegetables  or  fruit  or  anything  except  wine.  Silk  culture  is  an 
important  industry,  in  which  ladies  take  a prominent  part,  espe- 
cially in  the  country.  The  care  of  the  eggs,  the  feeding  of  the 
worms,  the  manipulation  of  the  cocoons  aijd  the  spinning  of  the 
silk  afford  means  whereby  the  wife  of  the  gentleman  farmer 
passes  many  pleasant  hours  and  adds  materially  to  the  finances 
of  the  household. 

Sewing  and  embroidery  are  usual  occupations  of  ladies,  but 
they  do  very  little  of  it  for  money.  The  vendible  goods  of  this 
kind  are  made  by  a different  class.  Many  Korean  ladies  of 
restricted  means  act  as  tutors  to  the  daughters  of  their  more 
fortunate  sisters.  They  teach  the  Chinese  character  and  litera- 
ture, letter-writing,  burial  customs,  music,  housekeeping,  hygiene. 


WOMAN’S  CORRECT  STREET  COSTUME 


WOMAN’S  POSITION 


3d:> 

care  of  infants,  obstetrics,  religion,  fiction,  needlework  and 
embroidery.  Of  course  the  teacher  is  not  seen  by  the  gentle- 
man of  the  house. 

In  the  country  it  is  not  beneath  the  dignity  of  a lady  to  tend 
bees.  She  may  also  help  in  the  care  of  fruit  trees,  especially  the 
jujube.  She  may  also  make  straw  shoes.  It  seems  singular  that 
a lady  should  be  able  to  make  straw  shoes  when  it  would  be 
entirely  beneath  her  dignity  to  make  the  better  kind,  such,  for 
instance,  as  those  her  husband  wears  in  town. 

If  an  inmate  of  a house  is  taken  ill,  someone  must  run  for 
an  exorcist  to  come  and  drive  out  the  evil  spirit  which  has- 
caused  the  trouble.  It  is  the  blind  people  who  do  this  work. 
It  is  not  confined  to  men  alone,  but  any  blind  woman,  whatever 
her  rank  may  be,  can  become  an  exorcist.  Nor  do  indigent 
ladies  hesitate  to  enter  the  ranks  of  fortune-tellers.  It  is  an 
easy,  lucrative  and  graceful  form  of  labour,  and  contains  an 
element  of  adventure  that  appeals  strongly  to  some  people. 

But  a higher  form  of  labour  to  which  a lady  is  eligible  is 
that  of  physician;  in  fact,  no  woman  can  be  a physician  here 
unless  she  belongs  to  the  upper  class.  The  science  of  medicine, 
or  I should  say  a science  of  medicine,  has  received  much  atten- 
tion from  Koreans  for  many  centuries.  The  Korean  pharma- 
copoeia is  celebrated  even  in  China ; and  it  cannot  be  denied  that 
it  contains  many  crude  drugs  that  are  very  effective.  Korea 
has  many  native  lady  physicians  who  administer  their  powdered 
tiger’s-claw,  tincture  of  bear’s  gall  or  decoction  of  crow’s  foot, 
according  as  the  symptoms  of  the  patient  may  seem  to  require. 
The  lady  physician  is  called  in  most  often  for  obstetric  cases- 
where  a male  physician  would  not  be  tolerated  for  a moment. 
A story  is  told  of  a certain  queen  who  was  taken  ill  and  no  lady 
physician  could  be  found.  The  royal  patient  grew  rapidly  worse. 
Male  physicians  were  at  hand,  but  they  could  not  possibly  see 
the  patient.  Suddenly  there  appeared  an  old  man  at  the  palace 
gate  who  said  that  he  could  cure  the  queen.  When  asked  how 
he  could  diagnose  the  case  without  seeing  the  patient,  he  said,. 


356 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


“ Tie  a string  around  her  wrist  and  pass  one  end  through  the 
partition.”  It  was  done,  and  the  old  man  holding  the  end  of 
the  string  described  her  symptoms  exactly  and  wrote  out  a pre- 
scription which  soon  effected  a cure.  Compared  Avith  this,  the 
recent  discoveries  of  Marconi  in  wireless  telegraphy  seem  — 
but  we  must  not  digress. 

As  might  be  supposed,  a descent  in  the  social  scale  widens 
the  field  of  the  Korean  woman’s  work.  The  middle-class  Avoman 
can  engage  in  all  the  occupations  of  her  higher  sister,  excepting 
those  of  physician  and  teacher  of  Chinese  literature.  She  may 
be  the  proprietress  of  any  kind  of  shop,  though  she  Avill  not 
appear  in  person.  She  may  “ take  in  Avashing,”  Avhich  means 
carrying  it  to  the  nearest  brook  or  to  the  neighbourhood  Avell- 
curb,  Avhere  the  Avater  she  uses  speedily  finds  its  Avay  back  into 
the  Avell.  She  may  act  as  cook  in  some  Avell-to-do  family,  tend 
the  foAvls  and  pigs  or  do  any  other  form  of  domestic  service. 
Concubines  are  draAvn  almost  exclusively  from  this  middle  class. 
They  make  combs,  head-bands,  tobacco-pouches  and  a thousand 
other  little  conveniences  of  the  toilet,  the  Avardrobe  and  the  home 
in  general.  They  are  alloAved  certain  fishing  rights  as  Avell, 
though  they  are  restricted  to  the  taking  of  clams,  cuttle-fish  and 
beche-de-mer.  The  Avomen  on  the  island  of  Quelpart,  off  the 
southern  coast,  held  until  lately  a peculiar  position  in  this  matter 
of  fishing.  The  men  stayed  at  home  Avhile  the  Avomen  Avaded 
into  the  sea  or  SAvam  out  from  shore  and  gathered  clams,  pearl 
oysters  and  seaAveed.  As  the  Avomen  Avere  ahvays  nude,  there 
Avas  a strict  laAv  that  no  man  Avas  to  go  Avithin  sight  of  the 
fishing  grounds  during  the  fishing  hours.  So  these  modern 
Godivas  Avere  the  bread-Avinners,  and  as  such  claimed  exceptional 
privileges,  — so  much  so  that  the  island  bade  fair  to  become  a 
sort  of  gynecocracy.  But  this  Avas  all  changed  Avhen  Japanese 
f.shermen  appeared  off  the  island.  The  Avomen  Avere  driven  out 
of  business  and  the  men  sadly  Avent  to  Avork.  This  dependence 
upon  the  AVomen  for  a living  Avas  thoroughly  in  accord  Avith  the 
earliest  tradition  of  the  island,  Avhich  says  that  three  sages  came 


THE  LAUNDRY 


WOMAN’S  POSITION 


357 


up  from  a hole  in  the  ground  and  that  each  of  them  found  a 
chest,  floating  in.  from  the  southeast,  containing  a colt,  a dog,  a 
calf,  a pig  and  a woman  1 

Women  of  the  middle  class  often  become  wet-nurses  or  enter 
a Buddhist  convent,  though  by  following  the  latter  course  they 
drop  from  the  respectable  class  to  the  despised  one.  Others  still 
become  nain,  or  palace  women.  These  are  in  some  sort  hand- 
maidens of  the  queen  and  engage  in  embroidery  and  other  fancy 
work  under  the  eye  of  Majesty.  Foreigners  often  make  the 
mistake  of  supposing  that  this  position  is  a disgraceful  one,  but 
these  palace  women  are  entirely  respectable,  and  any  delinquency 
on  their  part  would  be  severely  dealt  with.  The  reluctance  with 
which  parents  consent  to  their  daughters  becoming  palace  women 
is  due  to  the  fact  that  it  postpones  the  date  of  marriage  beyond 
the  approved  age.  Many  middle-class  women  are  innkeepers. 
Travel  on  Korean  roads  usually  averages  thirty  miles  a day, 
and  so  the  inns  are  numerous.  The  hostess  has  little  difficulty 
in  keeping  the  accounts.  All  she  has  to  do  is  to  watch  the  rice- 
bag  and  the  bean-bag,  for  food  and  fodder  are  the  only  things 
charged  for  in  a Korean  inn.  Sleeping  and  stable  room  are 
thrown  in  gratis ; and  we  may  add  sotto  voce  that  they  are  dear 
even  at  that  price,  at  certain  seasons  of  the  year.  If  the  hostess 
had  to  take  charge  of  the  sleeping  arrangements,  she  would  be 
unable  to  preserve  the  seclusion  which  is  the  sole  badge  of  her 
respectability.  Of  all  these  occupations  of  middle-class  women, 
there  are  only  two  to  which  low-class  women  are  not  eligible, 
those  of  palace  woman  and  tobacco-pouch  maker. 

While  middle-class  women  are  thoroughly  respectable,  at 
least  in  theory,  the  women  of  the  low  class  are  entirely  outside 
the  social  pale.  They  have  practically  no  rights,  though  they 
manage  to  hold  their  own  with  remarkable  pertinacity. 

There  are,  first,  those  unfortunates  called  dancing-girls.  The 
northern  province  of  Pyeng-an  takes  the  lead  in  supplying 
women  to  fill  the  ranks  of  this  class.  The  girls  are  taken  when 
very  young  and  trained  in  all  the  meretricious  arts  of  their 


358 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


degradecl  and  degrading-  occupation.  Some  of  them  are  secured 
by  purchase  and  many  more  by  chicanery.  They  are  secured  at 
too  early  an  age  to  make  it  possible  for  them  to  give  intelligent 
assent  to  their  shameful  fate.  They  are  never  veiled,  and  they 
go  about  as  freely  as  men.  In  the  Korean  view  they  are  unsexed 
and  are  social  outcasts,  but  in  reality,  like  the  hcfairai  of  ancient 
Greece,  they  enjoy  far  more  social  life  than  reputable  women. 
The  dancing-girl  is  not  necessarily  a woman  of  bad  character. 
Many  are  the  stories  told  of  their  kindness,  charity  and  patriot- 
ism. And  yet,  if  the  estimate  of  their  own  countrymen  counts 
for  anything,  such  goodness  is  about  as  frequent  as  the  Greek 
kalends.  In  early  days  there  were  no  dancing-girls,  but  boys 
performed  the  dances.  In  course  of  time,  however,  a weakening 
of  the  moral  fibre  of  the  nation,  due  to  increase  of  luxury,  let 
in  this  unspeakable  evil.  The  dancing-girl  is  a protege  of  the 
government ; in  fact,  the  whole  clan  is  supported  out  of  gov- 
ernment funds,  and  they  are  supposed  to  perform  only  at  govern- 
ment functions.  They  do  not  by  any  means  constitute  that 
branch  of  society  which  in  MTstern  countries  goes  under  the 
euphemistic  name  of  deuii  inonde,  but  they  correspond  very 
closely  to  our  ballet-dancers.  As  with  the  hetairai  of  Greece, 
so  with  the  Korean  dancing-girl,  her  greater  freedom  gi\-es 
her  opportunity  and  leisure  to  acquire  a culture  that  makes  her 
intellectually  far  more  companionable  than  her  more  secluded 
but  more  respectable  sisters.  This  is.  of  course,  a great  injustice. 
Though  there  is  nominally  a wide  difference  between  the  dancing- 
girl  and  the  ordinary  courtesan,  it  is  generally  understood  that 
enrolment  in  the  ranks  of  this  profession  means  a life  of  shame. 
Such  women  frequently  close  their  professional  careers  by  be- 
coming the  concubines  of  wealthy  gentlemen. 

The  female  jugglers,  acrobats,  contortionists  and  story-tellers 
are  sufficiently  described  by  their  names.  None  of  them  are 
respectable  people.  The  niudong,  or  sorceress,  is  much  in  evi- 
dence in  Korea.  She  is  the  lowest  of  the  low;  for,  in  addition 
to  an  entire  lack  of  morals,  she  is  supposed  to  ha^-e  commerce 


WOMAN’S  POSITION 


359 


with  evil  spirits.  The  p’ansii,  or  blind  exorcist,  is  an  enemy  of 
the  spirits  and  drives  them  away  by  a superior  power,  but  the 
mudang  is  supposed  to  secure  their  departure  by  friendly  inter- 
cession. This,  of  course,  determines  her  unenviable  position, 
and  no  women  in  Korea  are  more  depraved  than  she. 

Female  slavery  is  very  common.  This  will  be  discussed 
under  the  head  of  slavery,  but  as  it  is  an  exclusively  female 
institution,  it  must  be  enumerated  here.  She  may  be  a born 
slave,  she  may  be  made  one  as  punishment  for  a crime,  either 
of  her  own  or  of  a near  relative,  or  she  may  sell  herself  into 
lifelong  or  temporary  slavery  in  order  to  liquidate  a debt  or  to 
help  a relative  to  do  so.  Her  condition  is  somewhat  better  than 
that  of  many  of  Korea’s  poor,  for  she  is  sure  of  food  and  shelter, 
which  is  far  more  than  thousands  can  say.  As  a rule,  she  is 
treated  well,  and  her  condition  does  not  specially  excite  our 
pity.  She  will  be  seen  carrying  water  home  from  the  well  on 
her  head,  and  not  only  will  her  face  be  uncovered,  but  there  will 
be  a startling  hiatus  between  her  short  jacket  and  her  waistband 
which  leaves  the  breasts  entirely  exposed.  One  recent  writer 
on  Korea  leaves  the  impression  that  this  species  of  indecorum 
is  characteristic  of  all  women  on  the  streets  of  .Seoul,  but  of 
course  this  is  a libel. 

The  professional  go-between,  who  acts  in  the  capacity  of  a 
miatrimonial  bureau,  is  one  of  the  peculiar  excrescences  on  the 
body  politic  of  Korea.  It  is  her  business  to  find  brides  for  the 
bachelors  and  husbands  for  the  maidens.  Her  services  are  not 
absolutely  necessary,  for  the  parents  or  other  relatives  of  the 
young  man  or  woman  are  usually  able  to  arrange  an  alliance; 
but  there  are  many  cases  in  which  her  services  will  be  of  value. 
If  an  undesirable  young  man  or  woman  fears  that  he  or  she 
will  not  draw  a prize  in  the  matrimonial  lottery,  the  cJningma 
is  called  in,  and  it  is  made  worth  her  while  to  find  an  acceptable 
partner.  So  it  comes  about  that  she  is  well  worth  watching, 
and  her  description  of  the  prospective  bride  or  groom  should 
be  verified,  if  possible,  by  ocular  evidence.  A case  has  just 


36o 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


come  under  my  notice  in  which  a nice  young  girl  was  sadly 
cheated.  Her  relatives  went  to  see ' the  young  man  that  the 
go-between  had  provided  and  found  him  handsomely  dressed 
and  living,  apparently,  in  a fine  house;  but  when  the  ceremony 
was  over  he  took  her  to  a wretched  hovel,  where  his  father  and 
mother  and  a large  family  lived  huddled  together  like  rabbits 
in  a burrow.  The  deception  was  a most  cruel  one,  for  the  girl 
had  been  reared  in  comparative  luxur5^  Occasionally  the  go- 
between  is  brought  to  justice  for  such  felonious  dealing,  but 
usually  the  girl  would  rather  suffer  in  silence  than  have  her 
name  dragged  before  the  public. 

It  is  difficult  to  estimate  the  wages  that  female  labour  receives 
in  Korea,  because  it  depends  almost  entirely  upon  the  skill  and 
the  rapidity  with  which  the  work  is  done.  Doubtless  the 
dancing-girl  gets  the  best  pay  cf  all,  and  next  to  her  perhaps 
the  lady  physician.  Then  come  the  acrobats  and  fortune-tellers. 
The  wet-nurse,  or  “ milk-mother,”  is  well  paid,  but  her  living  is 
precarious.  The  same  is  true  of  the  go-between.  The  teacher 
in  a gentleman’s  fam.ily  gets  no  salary  at  all,  only  a present  now 
and  then.  The  female  physician  gets  her  chair-coolie  hire  and 
about  a dollar  for  each  visit.  The  acrobat  may  get  as  low  as 
four  dollars  a month  or  as  high  as  sixty.  The  fortune-teller 
gets  eight  cents  for  each  fortune  that  she  tells.  This  represents 
two  hours’  work,  for  it  is  no  light  matter  to  be  turned  off  by  a 
mere  glance  at  the  palm.  Go-betweens  get  from  four  to  eight 
dollars  for  each  case.  The  honest  ones  are,  of  course,  the  surest 
to  find  steady  employment.  The  woman  whose  province  it  is 
to  apply  cosmetics  to  the  faces  of  prospective  brides  receives 
some  sixteen  dollars  for  each  operation,  and  anyone  who  has 
seen  a Korean  bride  in  her  stucco  will  say  the  money  is  well 
earned. 

A good  seamstress  or  comb-maker  or  head-band  maker  will 
earn  a dollar  a day,  while  a wet  nurse  will  get  forty  cents  and 
her  food,  but  if  a foreigner  wants  to  employ  one,  he  will  have 
to  pay  twenty  dollars  a month  and  support  her  lazy  husband  into 


WOMAN’S  POSITION 


361 


the  bargain.  For  sewing,  weaving,  fishing,  doctoring,  glazing 
pottery,  preparing  ginseng,  boiling  salt,  making  shoes,  exorcism 
and  many  other  forms  of  labour,  a woman  receives  as  much  as 
a man.  It  may  be  set  down  as  a general  law  that  if  a woman 
can  make  a thing  as  quickly  and  as  well  as  a man  she  will 
receive  the  same  wages  as  he.  In  this  respect  the  Korean 
woman  has  the  advantage  of  the  female  artisan  in  Europe  or 
America. 

The  relative  degree  of  education  enjoyed  by  Korean  women 
as  compared  with  men  is  not  thoroughly  understood  by  for- 
eigners, judging  from  what  we  find  in  print.  It  is  commonly 
believed  that  education  here  is  almost  wholly  confined  to  the 
men,  but  this  estimate  must  be  considerably  modified.  Among 
Korean  gentlemen  there  are  very  few  indeed  who  have  not 
studied  at  least  a few  Chinese  characters,  but  not  one  in  six 
can  pick  up  a book  written  in  pure  Chinese  and  read  it  with  any 
degree  of  fluency.  Most  of  them  have  the  merest  smattering  of 
it.  Among  the  women  of  the  upper  class,  perhaps  two  in  five 
study  a little  Chinese,  but  not  more  than  one  per  cent  of  these 
ladies  ever  learn  to  read  it.  The  so-called  mixed  script  in  which 
the  daily  papers  are  printed  can  be  read  by  very  many  ladies, 
for  it  requires  no  knowledge  of  the  Chinese  idiom,  but  only  the 
meaning  of  some  eighteen  hundred  characters.  The  native 
Korean  writing,  of  which  we  speak  at  length  elsewhere,  is  often 
called  the  “ ladies’  writing.”  Gentlemen  pretend  to  despise  it, 
but  it  is  well  known  and  extensively  used  by  all  Korean  ladies. 
If  one  of  them  is  lacking  in  this  accomplishment,  she  will  be 
looked  upon  much  as  a Western  lady  would  be  who  should  refer 
to  George  Eliot  as  a gentleman.  Among  the  middle  classes 
perhaps  half  of  the  women  are  conversant  with  this  native  script. 
Among  the  low  class  there  is  no  education  at  all,  except  in  the 
case  of  fortune-tellers  and  dancing-girls,  the  latter  of  whom  are 
frequently  quite  well  up  in  letters. 

The  one  work  that  Korean  women  must  master  is  “ The 
Three  Principles  of  Conduct.”  These  are  (i)  the  treatment 


362 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


of  parents,  (2)  the  rearing  of  a family,  (3)  housekeeping; 
and,  running  the  risk  of  seeming  out  of  date,  we  submit  that, 
while  these  three  studies  might  not  constitute  a liberal  education 
for  a woman,  no  woman’s  education  is  complete  without  them. 
But  while  we  cannot  praise  the  Koreans  too  highly  for  insisting 
on  these,  we  do  blame  them  that  they  often  stop  here.  iMany 
women  who  cannot  read  learn  this  book  by  proxy.  It  is  written 
in  Chinese  and  Korean  on  alternate  pages,  so  that  no  one  may 
have  an  excuse  for  not  reading  it. 

Next  comes  “ The  Five  Rules  of  Conduct,”  relating  to  the 
relations  between  parent  and  child,  king  and  subject,  husband 
and  wife,  old  and  young,  friend  and  friend.  Then  there  is  a 
book  on  “ Interesting  and  Proper  Things,”  a mass  of  anecdotes 
illustrative  of  the  virtues,  and  the  “ Female  Physician’s  Remedy 
Book,”  a sort  of  domestic  medical  work,  dealing  mainly  with 
prenatal  conditions,  parturition  and  the  care  of  infants.  Such 
are  the  most  important  books  studied  by  women,  and  ignorance 
of  their  contents  is  looked  upon  with  great  contempt  among  the 
upper  classes  and  to  a less  extent  among  the  middle  classes. 
But  besides  these,  there  is  an  extensive  literature  in  the  native 
script  alone.  It  contains  historical  works  on  ancient  and  medie- 
val Korea,  poetry,  tra^'el,  letters,  biographies  and  a wide  range 
of  fiction,  based  on  fairies,  ghosts,  love,  hate,  revenge,  avarice, 
ambition,  adventure,  loyalty  and  all  other  passions  that  are  com- 
mon to  the  race. 

Those  books  which  women  regularly  study  can  be  obtained 
by  purchase,  but,  as  for  the  light  literature,  there  are  a number 
of  circulating  libraries  in  Seoul  where  books  are  lent  for  two 
cents  apiece,  to  be  returned  within  five  days.  It  speaks  rather 
poorly  for  the  taste  and  morals  of  the  Koreans  that  very  many 
of  these  books  are  highly  unfit  for  anyone  to  read. 

There  are  no  girls’  schools  in  Korea,  outside  those  that  have 
been  founded  by  the  foreign  missionaries.  That  Korean  girls 
are  taught  almost  exclusively  those  things  that  will  be  of  prac- 
tical use  to  them  within  the  walls  of  their  own  homes,  is  neces- 


WOMAN’S  POSITION 


363 


sarily  narrowing  to  the  intellect,  and  makes  the  woman  a 
companion  to  her  husband  only  in  a domestic  sense.  The  influ- 
ence that  this  has  upon  society  is  too  well  known  to  need 
discussion  here;  but  it  is  the  testimony  of  foreigners  gen- 
erally, who  have  had  to  do  with  Korean  girls,  that  these  long 
•centuries  of  repression  have  not  impaired  their  mental  capacity. 
That  capacity  has  simply  lain  dormant,  and  when  given  the 
opportunity  it  will  prove  itself  easily  eciuivalent  to  that  of  the 
•men. 

It  would  be  impossible  to  discuss  the  property  rights  of 
women  without  taking  up  property  rights  in  general,  which  we 
will  do  as  briefly  as  possible. 

Let  us  take  the  case  of  a well-to-do  gentleman  in  his  home, 
surrounded  by  his  family,  which  includes  his  wife,  his  two  mar- 
ried sons  and  one  unmarried  daughter.  His  other  daughter  has 
married  and  gone  to  the  home  of  her  husband.  This  gentle- 
man’s property  consists  of  rice-fields,  real  estate  and  ready,  money. 
All  real  estate  is  held  by  deed  from  the  government,  as  with  us. 
His  ready  money  is  not  in  the  bank,  for  there  are  practically  no 
banks.  It  is  all  locked  in  his  strong  box,  or  it  is  lent  out  to 
merchants  and  others  at  a rate  of  one  and  a half  or  two  per  cent 
a month.  Considering  the  risks,  this  is  a low  rate.  So‘  far  as 
his  own  immediate  household  is  concerned,  this  man  has  com- 
plete control  of  all  this  property,  but  if  he  has  one  or  more 
brothers  and  they  happen  to  be  in  needy  circumstances,  he  is 
bound  to  feed  them.  If  he  refuses  to  do  so,  they  can  go  to  the 
local  authorities  and  lay  complaint  against  him;  in  which  case 
they  may  command  him  to  hand  over  some  of  his  money  or 
•other  property  to  the  brothers,  in  order  to  save  them  from  star- 
vation. If,  however,  he  can  prove  that  the  brothers  are  indolent 
and  merely  want  to  live  upon  him,  he  will  be  freed  from  all 
obligation.  The  reason  for  this  law  will  appear  shortly. 

If  he  has  sisters,  they  are  of  course  married  and  have  gone 
to  the  family  of  the  husband.  He  is,  therefore,  free  from  all 
legal  obligation  to  them.  In  case  they  are  in  severe  straits,  he 


364 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


will  probably  help  them,  but  they  have  no  recourse  to  law.  If 
his  aged  mother  is  still  living,  he  must  support  her.  If  he  does 
not  treat  her  well,  she  has  instant  recourse  to  the  law  and  can 
inflict  the  severest  penalties.  . If  he  insults  her  or  strikes  her  or 
if  he  is  a thief  or  seditious,  she  might  strike  him  dead  and  the 
law  would  uphold  her.  This  is  not  mere  theory,  for  such  things 
have  happened  not  infrequently.  So  long  as  he  treats  her  well, 
she  has  no  voice  in  the  management  of  the  money.  It  is  hardly 
necessary  to  say  that  the  government  exercises  the  right  of 
eminent  domain,  and  can  “ condemn  ” and  take  any  man’s  prop- 
erty at  a fair  valuation. 

We  next  ask  how  a Korean  can  acquire  or  dispose  of  prop- 
erty. In  the  disposition  of  the  estate  his  brothers  may  act  as  a 
check  upon  him.  If  he  is  wantonly  squandering  the  patrimony, 
or  even  money  that  he  has  himself  acquired,  they  can  complain 
to  the  authorities  and  ask  them  to  refuse  new  deeds  for  prop- 
erty that  he  sells.  It  must  always  be  remembered  that  in  Korea 
the  authorities  are  seldom  approached  with  empty  hands,  and 
to  go  to  law  does  not  necessarily  mean  to  obtain  justice. 

When  a man  dies  intestate,  all  his  property  goes  into  the 
hands  of  his  eldest  son,  who  is  obliged  to  support  all  his  brothers. 
If  he  refuses  to  do  so,  they  appeal  to  the  law  and  force  a divi- 
sion of  the  property,  in  which  case  each  receives  an  equal  share. 
If  there  are  unmarried  sisters,  the  elder  brother  will  lay  aside 
a sum  sufficient  for  their  dowries,  himself  being  the  judge  as 
to  what  is  necessary.  These  unmarried  sisters  have  no  recourse 
to  the  law,  so  long  as  their  brother  supports  them  and  gives 
them  a home.  If  he  refuses  this,  the  law  will  handle  him.  If 
they  are  already  married  before  the  death  of  the  father,  the 
brother  is  not  under  obligation  to  gi^■e  them  an3’thing.  If  they 
are  in  want,  he  may  help  them  or  not  as  he  pleases. 

A man,  seeing  his  end  approach,  desires  to  make  his  Avill. 
He  calls  in  a few  witnesses,  never  from  his  own  immediate 
family,  and  writes  his  will  in  their  presence.  They  sign  it  in 
due  form.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  probate  in  Korea,  and  the 


WOMAN’S  POSITION 


365 


eldest  son  is  always  the  executor  of  the  will.  Ordinarily,  the 
father  will  have  no  doubt  as  to  his  son’s  good  intentions  and 
will  die  intestate.  It  is  when  the  father  fears  that  the  son  will 
not  treat  the  rest  of  the  family  well  that  he  makes  a will.  Sup- 
posing that  the  will  specifies  that  the  widow  is  to  receive  a 
specified  sum,  and  the  other  children  each  a specified  sum,  every 
person  so  specified  has  the  right  to  claim  at  law  the  amount 
becjueathed  to  him  or  her,  and  the  woman’s  right  is  as  clear  as 
the  man’s.  But  should  the  will  include  a bequest  to  anyone  not 
a relative,  such  as  a friend,  or  the  poor,  or  a monk,  such  person 
cannot  recover  the  money  at  law.  There  is  no  redress.  If,  how- 
ever, the  executor,  the  eldest  son,  refuses  to  carry  out  the  wishes 
of  his  father  in  these  particulars  and  shows  a too  avaricious 
spirit,  the  people  of  the  place  will  compel  him  to  sell  out  and 
move  away.  They  will  drive  him  from  the  neighbourhood,  and 
the  authorities  will  not  stir  a finger  to  help  him,  unless  — 
but  the  less  said  about  that  the  better. 

Now  let  us  suppose  that  a man  dies  leaving  only  two 
daughters,  one  married  and  the  other  unmarried.  In  this  case 
the  great  probability  is  that  he  will  adopt  a son  before  he  dies, 
someone  among  his  near  relatives.  This  will  be  mainly  in  order 
to  have  someone  to  sacrifice  to  his  spirit  after  his  death.  The 
adopted  son  has  all  the  rights  and  powers  of  a real  son,  and  will 
control  the  property.  Perhaps  once  out  of  ten  times  the  father 
will  fail  to  adopt  a son,  in  which  case  the  daughters  take  charge 
of  the  property  and  administer  the  estate  exactly  the  same  as  a 
man  would,  and  with  equal  power.  These  daughters  are  not 
obliged  to  hand  the  property  over  to  their  husbands  unless  they 
wish,  but  the  husband  may,  if  evil-minded,  seize  it,  in  which  case 
the  wife  will  probably  have  no  redress.  This,  however,  would 
very  rarely  occur,  for,  if  it  were  known,  the  man  would  be  sub- 
ject to  the  most  bitter  scorn  of  his  acquaintances  and  would  be 
practically  ostracised. 

In  case  a man  dies  leaving  only  a widow,  she  will  adopt  as 
her  son  the  eldest  son  of  one  of  her  husband’s  brothers,  and  he 


366 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


will  naturally  have  charge  of  the  money.  This  is  a hard  and 
fast  rule  that  is  never  broken.  If  there  be  no  such  nephew,  she 
may  adopt  some  other  boy,  if  she  so  desires,  or  she  can  hold 
the  property  in  her  own  name.  If  her  husband  has  a childless 
brother,  she  must  divide  the  property  with  him,  but  not  with 
any  more  distant  relative. 

It  is  a striking  fact  that  among  the  common  people  a wife 
has  greater  power  over  her  dead  husband’s  property  than  her 
more  aristocratic  sister.  If  she  adopts  a son,  she  still  may  con- 
trol the  estate  if  she  desires.  The  Koreans  have  a queer  say- 
ing to  the  effect  that  to  live  well  in  this  world  one  should  be 
the  wife  of  a middle-class  man,  and  when  a woman  dies  she 
should  wish  to  be  reincarnated  in  the  shape  of  a gentleman  or 
high-class  man.  This  is  because  in  the  middle  class  the  woman 
is  more  nearly  on  a level  with  her  husband,  she  knows  more 
about  his  business  and  has  more  to  say  in  the  management  of 
the  family  affairs  than  the  high-class  woman ; also  she  has  a 
much  firmer  hold  upon  her  husband’s  estate  in  case  he  dies. 
She  is  not  so  strictly  bound  to  adopt  a son  to  whom  she  will 
have  to  hand  over  the  property,  nor  does  she  have  to  give  so 
much  to  her  deceased  husband’s  brothers. 

As  we  descend  in  the  social  scale,  all  restrictive  laws  and 
all  inequalities  between  the  sexes  are  toned  down,  so  that  when 
Ave  reach  the  lowest  classes  we  find  that  the  relations  are  much 
the  same  as  in  our  own  land.  The  Koreans  say  that  among  the 
very  lowest  classes  are  to  be  found  the  most  unfortunate  and 
the  most  fortunate  women ; but  this  would  not  be  our  estimate, 
for  the  Koreans  mean  by  this  that  the  miidang,  or  sorceress,  and 
the  courtesan  and  the  dancing-girl,  being  unmarried,  are  the 
most  independent  women  in  the  land,  and  are  cared  for,  fed  and 
dressed  the  best  of  any  in  Korea.  Of  course  this  is  a terribly 
false  judgment,  for  it  looks  merely  to  material  comfort  and  for- 
gets the  awful  price  at  which  it  is  bought.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  respectable  woman  of  the  lowest  orders  is  the  most  pitiable, 
for  she  is  everybody’s  drudge.  She  has  no  rights  that  anyone 


WOMAN’S  POSITION  367 

is  bound  to  respect,  and  she  lives  at  the  caprice  of  her  husband 
■or  master. 

The  question  arises  as  to  whether  a married  woman  has  con- 
trol of  the  wages  which  she  may  earn.  In  this  respect  the 
middle-class  woman  has  the  advantage  of  her  higher  sisters, 
for  while  a gentleman’s  wife  will  invariably  turn  over  the  pro- 
ceeds of  her  work  to  her  husband,  the  middle-class  woman  may 
■or  may  not  do  so.  Every  act  of  a high-born  woman  is  subject 
to  far  closer  scrutiny  than  in  the  case  of  the  middle-class  woman, 
.and,  as  she  can  never  go  to  a shop  to  buy  anything,  she  cannot 
well  use  her  money.  On  the  whole,  she  is  a very  helpless  being. 
It  is  very  common  for  middle-class  women  to  give  up  their 
wages  to  their  husbands,  and  the  latter  can  take  money  from 
their  wives  by  force  without  the  least  fear  of  molestation  from 
the  authorities ; but  by  sufferance  these  women  are  given  greater 
freedom  than  others. 

If  a widow  is  possessed  of  considerable  property  and  sees 
lier  end  approach,  and  she  has  neither  sons  nor  near  relatives, 
she  may  give  her  money  to  some  young  man  and  ask  him  to 
perform  the  annual  sacrificial  rites  for  her,  or  she  may  go  to  a 
Buddhist  monastery  and  give  her  money  to  pay  for  the  perform- 
ance of  Buddhist  rites.  This  is  a very  common  occurrence  in 
Korea,  and  forms  an  important  part  of  the  income  of  the  mon- 
asteries. No  woman  of  the  upper  class  ever  does  this. 

If  a man  is  a traitor  or  if  he  desecrates  a grave,  the  common 
-custom,  until  very  recently,  has  been  to  decapitate  him  and  all 
his  male  relatives  of  near  degree,  and  to  execute  by  poison  all 
Avomen  of  his  immediate  family,  namely,  mother,  wife  and 
daughters.  In  certain  cases  the  women  may  merely  be  made 
slaves.  If  a woman  herself  meditates  treason,  she  will  be  poi- 
soned. For  murder  a man  is  decapitated  and  his  wife  poisoned. 
If  a woman  is  the  offender,  she  will  be  strangled  or  poisoned. 
For  arson  a man  suffers  strangulation  or  poisoning,  while  the 
Avoman  suffers  the  latter  penalty.  For  theft  a man  may  be  either 
decapitated,  strangled  or  banished.  His  Avife  will  be  enslaved 


368 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


and  all  his  property  confiscated.  Such  was  the  law  up  to  the 
year  1895,  but  at  that  time  the  punishment  of  wives  and  daugh- 
ters for  the  man’s  fault  was  done  away,  and  a great  forward 
step  was  thus  taken  in  judicial  ethics.  Since  that  time  only  the 
principal  offender  himself  has  suffered  punishment. 

In  the  matter  of  divorce  the  great  inequality  between  the 
sexes  becomes  plainly  manifest.  On  no  pretext  whatever  can 
a woman  obtain  a legal  separation  from  her  husband.  The 
only  thing  she  can  do  is  to  run  away  to  her  father’s  house  or  to 
that  of  some  relative.  In  this  case  the  husband  has  no  redress 
unless  he  can  disprove  her  charges  against  him.  In  such  case 
he  can  demand  not  her  person,  but  only  the  cost  of  the  marriage 
ceremony.  This  proving  is  not  done  by  legal  process,  but  is  a 
matter  between  the  parties  concerned  and  their  relatives.  The 
law  will  not  force  a woman  to  go  back  to  her  husband's  home. 
Thus  we  see  that  divorce  in  its  main  feature,  namely,  the  getting 
rid  of  a bad  husband,  is  possible  to  any  Korean  woman,  but 
there  is  no  legal  document  which  dissolves  the  marriage  tie. 

If  a man  wants  to  get  rid  of  his  wife,  the  reason  will  prob- 
ably be  either  that  she  is  barren,  or  that  she  has  committed 
adultery,  or  that  she  is  an  inveterate  gossip,  or  that  she  has 
insulted  him,  or  that  she  is  indolent,  or  that  she  does  not  attend 
properly  to  the  sacrifices  or  that  she  is  a thief.  If  the  woman 
thus  divorced  is  a lady,  she  has  absolutely  no  redress,  whether 
the  accusation  is  just  or  not.  If  she  is  a common  woman,  she 
can  appeal  to  the  Mayor  of  Seoul  or  to  her  local  magistrate  and 
can  have  her  husband  punished  for  driving  her  away  without 
sufficient  cause  if  she  can  prove  that  such  is  the  case.  If  a 
woman  is  divorced,  or  if  she  runs  away  from  her  husband,  all 
the  children  remain  in  his  care.  She  cannot  take  any  of  them 
with  her  unless  by  his  permission.  If  she  clandestinely  does  so, 
he  can  force  her  to  give  the  child  up. 

Divorce  is  very  uncommon  among  the  upper  class.  The 
wife  and  mistress  of  the  house  is  by  no  means  a mere  chattel, 
as  in  Turkey  or  Persia.  She  has  certain  well-defined  rights 


WOMAN’S  POSITION 


369 


that  her  husband  is  bound  to  respect,  and  to  divorce  her  requires 
very  sound  and  patent  reasons.  She  has  her  powerful  relatives 
who  could  make  it  very  uncomfortable  for  her  husband  should 
he  attempt  to  discredit  their  house  by  wantonly  divorcing  her. 
It  is  a terrible  disgrace  for  a gentleman  to  have  his  wife  run 
away  from  him,^  and  he  will  go  far  to  conciliate  her  and  prevent 
such  a scandal.  Among  the  common  people,  however,  there  is 
far  greater  license.  Divorce  is  exceedingly  easy  and  common. 
If  a man  finds  that  the  woman  of  his  choice  (or  the  go-between’s 
choice)  is  not  what  he  anticipated,  he  will  simply  send  her  home 
to  her  mother.  It  is  very  uncommon  for  a woman  to  complain 
before  the  magistrate  and  have  her  delinquent  hiisband  punished, 
for  in  any  case  she  cannot  go  back  to  him,  and  so  the  less  said 
about  the  matter  the  better.  The  utmost  promiscuity  prevails 
among  the  lower  classes.  A man  may  have  half  a dozen  wives  a 
year  in  succession.  No'  ceremony  is  required,  and  it  is  simply  a 
mutual  agreement  of  a more  or  less  temporary  nature.  The 
biblical  picture  of  the  Samaritan  woman  at  Jacob’s  Well  who 
had  had  five  husbands  is  descriptive  of  many  thousands  among 
the  low-class  people  in  Korea. 

The  cost  of  a regular  wedding  in  this  country  is  very  great, 
averaging  some  six  months’  income.  This  is  one  of  the  main 
reasons  for  irregular  connections. 

Concubinage  is  an  institution  as  old  as  history.  It  has  ex- 
isted in  Korea  from  time  immemorial.  There  are  three  main 
causes  for  it,  — if  a man  has  no  son  by  his  wife,  if  the  wife  is 
an  invalid  or  a cripple  or  old,  if  the  man  is  a mere  libertine;  in 
any  of  these  cases  he  is  likely  to  take  a concubine.  The  custom 
is  prevalent  both  among  the  high  class  and  the  middle  class.  The 
woman  of  the  high  class-  never  becomes  a concubine,  but  men 
of  that  class  take  concubines  from  the  lower  strata  of  society. 
From  time  to  time  we  hear  excuses  made  for  concubinage  in 
the  case  of  a man  whose  wife  is  barren,  but  the  excuse  is  not  a 
valid  one;  and  for  the  very  good  reason  that  however  many 
sons  a man  may  have  by  a concubine,  not  one  of  them  can  call 


3/0 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


him  father,  or  become  his  heir  or  sacrifice  to  him  after  deaths 
He  may  have  half  a dozen  sons  by  concubines,  yet  when  the 
time  comes  to  die  he  will  adopt  a son  from  some  more  or  less 
distant  branch  of  the  family,  and  it  is  this  adopted  son  who  will 
call  him  father,  worship  him  after  death  and  inherit  all  his  prop- 
erty. The  sons  of  concubines  have  no  rights  whatever,  nor 
would  any  gentleman  think  of  adopting  his  son  by  a concubine 
to  be  his  legal  heir.  Great  stress  is  laid  upon  purity  of  blood 
in  the  upper  class.  Among  the  common  people,  however,  where 
the  restraints  are  very  much  less,  the  son  by  a concubine  may 
become  the  heir.  In  such  case  the  man  and  his  concubine  belong 
to  the  same  grade  of  society.  The  children  always  take  the 
status  of  the  mother. 

If  a man  of  the  upper  class  has  one  or  more  concubines,  he 
must  keep  a separate  establishment  for  each  of  them.  It  would 
be  unheard  of  for  a gentleman  to  introduce  a concubine  into  the 
home  where  his  genuine  wife  lives.  Among  the  common  class, 
however,  the  wife  and  the  concubine  may  occupy  the  same  house. 
Human  nature  is  the  same  the  world  over,  and  it  is  needless  to 
say  that  oftentimes  the  result  is  most  distressing.  No  other  one 
thing  is  so  conducive  to  domestic  discord  as  this  evil  custom. 
The  Koreans  recognise  its  baneful  effects  and  condemn  it,  but 
money  and  leisure  offer  great  temptations  in  Korea  even  as 
elsewhere. 

The  commonest  form  of  amusement  in  which  women  indulge 
is  called  kugyung.  This  word  cannot  be  exactly  translated,  but 
it  may  mean  to  “ look  see  ” or  to  “ take  a walk,”  or  both  of  these 
combined.  In  other  words,  it  means  the  satisfaction  of  curiosity 
in  any  form.  When  the  Korean  says  kugyung  kapsita,  he  means, 
“ Let  us  take  a stroll  and  look  about  a bit.”  Now,  this,  in  the 
uneventful  life  of  a Korean  woman,  is  one  of  the  highest  forms 
of  pleasure.  It  makes  no  difference  though  she  sees  nothing 
more  exciting  than  a passing  bicycle  or  electric  car.  It  is  amus- 
ing and  entertaining.  Of  course,  such  pleasures  are  mostly 
limited  to  the  lower  classes,  who  are  less  secluded.  Ladies  amuse 


WOMAN’S  POSITION 


371 


themselves  by  playing  the  koimingo,  or  harp.  Its  musical  capa- 
bilities are  not  high.  They  also  play  other  crude  instruments. 

Korean  girls  are  very  fond  of  swinging,  and  on  a certain 
day  in  spring  there  is  a swing  festival  in  which  men,  women  and 
children  participate.  Huge  swings  are  arranged  in  public  places, 
but  these  are  used  only  by  men  and  boys.  Girls  have  a peculiar 
kind  of  see-saw,  which  consists  of  a short  board  laid  across  a 
fulcrum  three  or  four  inches  high.  The  girls  stand  on  opposite 
ends  of  the  board  and  jump  up  and  down.  The  impact  of  one 
coming  down  throws  the  other  up  into  the  air  some  three  or 
four  feet.  A rope  is  drawn  above  their  heads  like  a clothes-line, 
and  to  this  they  cling  as  they  go  up  in  the  air,  in  order  to  insure 
their  equilibrium. 

In  the  country  the  girls  enjoy  what  is  called  the  chid  nori, 
or  rope  game.  A rope  is  drawn  taut  between  two  trees,  and 
the  girls  swing  back  and  forth  against  it,  keeping  time  to  a song. 
The  Korean  doll  is  also  very  common  and  is  called  a kaksi.  It 
is  most  often  seen  tied  to  the  back  of  the  little  girl,  and  she  pre- 
tends that  she  is  carrying  her  baby  as  her  mother  does  the 
genuine  one.  Dominoes,  go-bang  and  dice  are  favourite  amuse- 
ments of  women,  though  the  last  are  used  almost  exclusively 
by  ladies  of  the  higher  class. 

As  for  titles,  only  ladies  of  the  very  highest  class,  wives  of 
the  leading  officials,  are  given  a “ handle  ” to  their  names.  These 
correspond  to  our  terms  “ countess,”  “ baroness  ” and  others;  but- 
these  titles  are  not  hereditary  in  Korea. 


CHAPTER  XXIX 


FOLK-LORE 

FOLK-LORE  is  a very  ambiguous  term,  including  at 
one  extreme  not  only  the  folk-tales  of  a people, 
but  the  folk-songs,  superstitions,  charms,  incantations, 
proverbs,  conundrums  and  many  other  odds  and  ends 
of  domestic  tradition  which  find  no  classification  under  other 
headings.  Folk-lore  is  the  back  attic,  to  which  are  relegated  all 
those  interesting  old  pieces  of  ethnological  furniture  which  do 
not  bear  the  hall-mark  of  history  and  are  withal  too  ambiguous 
in  their  origin  and  too  heterogeneous  in  their  character  to  take 
their  place  downstairs  in  the  prim  order  of  the  modern  scien- 
tific drawing-room.  But  if  we  wish  to  feel  as  well  as  to  know 
what  the  life  of  a people  has  been,  we  must  not  sit  down  in  the 
drawing-room  under  the  electric  light  and  read  their  annals 
simply,  but  we  must  mount  to  the  attic  and  rummage  among 
their  folk-lore,  handle,  as  it  were,  the  garments  of  bygone  days 
and  untie  the  faded  ribbon  which  confines  the  love-letters  of 
long  ago.  W ritten  history  stalks  across  the  centuries  in  seven- 
league  boots,  leaping  from  one  great  crisis  to  another,  and  giv- 
ing but  a bird’s-eye  view  of  what  lies  between;  but  folk-lore 
takes  you  by  the  hand,  leads  you  down  into  the  valley,  shows 
you  the  home,  the  family,  the  every-day  life,  and  brings  you 
close  to  the  heart  of  the  people.  It  has  been  well  said  that  the 
test  of  a man’s  knowledge  of  a foreign  language  is  his  ability 
to  understand  the  jokes  in  that  language.  So  I should  say  that 
to  know  a people’s  life  we  must  understand  their  folk-lore. 

The  back  attic  of  Korean  folk-lore  is  filled  with  a very 
miscellaneous  collection,  for  the  same  family  has  occupied  the 
house  for  forty  centuries  and  there  never  has  been  an  auction. 


FOLK-LORE 


373 


Of  this  mass  of  material,  in  the  small  space  here  available,  we 
can  give  only  the  merest  outline,  a rapid  inventory. 

For  convenience  we  may  group  Korean  folk-tales  under  six 
heads,  — Confucian,  Buddhistic,  shamanistic,  legendary,  myth- 
ical and  general. 

Williams  defines  Confucianism  as  “ the  political  morality 
which  was  taught  by  Confucius  and  his  disciples  and  which 
forms  the  basis  of  Chinese  jurisprudence.  It  can  hardly  be 
called  a religion,  as  it  does  not  inculcate  the  worship  of  any  god.” 
In  other  words,  it  stops  short  at  ethical  boundaries  and  does 
not  concern  itself  with  spiritual  relations.  The  point  at  issue  be- 
tween Confucianism  and  Buddhism  is  that  the  latter  affirms  that 
the  present  life  is  conditioned  by  a past  one  and  determines  the 
condition  in  a future  one,  while  Confucianism  confines  itself 
to  the  deciding  of  questions  of  conduct  beginning  with  birth 
and  ending  with  death.  It  is  to  be  expected,  therefore,  that,  like 
Judaism  in  the  days  of  its  decadence,  every  probable  phase  and 
aspect  of  human  life  will  be  discussed,  and  a rule  of  conduct  laid 
down.  This  is  done  largel}^  by  allegory,  and  we  find  in  Korea, 
as  in  China,  a mass  of  stories  illustrating  the  line  of  conduct  to 
be  followed  under  a great  variety  of  circumstances.  These  stories 
omit  all  mention  of  the  more  recondite  tenets  of  Confucianism, 
and  deal  exclusively  with  the  application  of  a few  self-evident 
ethical  principles  of  conduct.  They  all  cluster  about  and  are 
slavish  imitations  of  a printed  volume  of  stories  called  the 
0-ryiin  Hang-sil,  or  “ The'  Five  Principles  of  Conduct.”  This 
has  been  borrowed  mainly  from  China,  and  the  tales  it  contains 
are  as  conventional  and  as  insipid  as  any  other  form  of  Chinese 
inspiration.  As  this  is  a written  volume  which  has  a definite 
place  in  literature,  it  may  not  perhaps  be  considered  strictly  as 
folk-lore,  but  the  great  number  of  tales  based  on  it,  giving  simple 
variations  of  the  same  threadbare  themes,  have  become  woven 
into  the  fabric  of  Korean  folk-lore  and  have  produced  a dis- 
tinct impression,  but  rather  of  an  academic  than  a genuinely 
moral  character.  Following  the  lead  of  this  book,  Korean  folk- 


374 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


lore  has  piled  example  upon  example  showing  how  a child,  a 
youth  or  an  adult  should  act  under  certain  given  circumstances. 
These  “ Five  Principles  ” may  be  called  the  five  beatitudes  of 
Confucianism,  and  while  their  author  would  probably  prefer  to 
word  them  differently,  the  following  is  the  way  they  work  out 
in  actual  Korean  life : 

(1)  Blessed  is  the  child  who  honours  his  parents,  for  he  in 
turn  shall  be  honoured  by  his  children. 

(2)  Blessed  is  the  man  who  honours  his  King,  for  he  will 
stand  a chance  of  being  a recipient  of  the  King's  favour. 

(3)  Blessed  are  the  man  and  wife  who  treat  each  other 
properly,  for  they  shall  be  secure  against  domestic  scandal. 

(4)  Blessed  is  the  man  who  treats  his  friend  well,  for  that 
is  the  only  way  to  get  treated  well  himself. 

(5)  Blessed  is  the  man  who  honours  his  elders,  for  years  are 
a guarantee  of  wisdom. 

Then  there  are  minor  ones  which  are  in  some  sense  corolla- 
ries of  these  five,  as,  for  instance : 

Blessed  is  the  very  chaste  woman,  for  she  shall  have  a red 
gate  built  in  her  front  yard,  with  her  virtues  described  thereon, 
to  show  that  the  average  of  womanhood  is  a shade  less  virtuous 
than  she. 

Blessed  is  the  country  gentleman  who  persistently  declines 
to  become  prime  minister,  even  though  pressed  to  do  so,  for  he 
shall  never  be  cartooned  by  the  opposition  — and  incidentally 
shall  have  no  taxes  to  pay. 

Blessed  is  tlie  young  married  woman  who  suffers  patiently 
the  infliction  of  a mother-in-law,  for  she  in  turn  shall  have  the 
felicity  of  pinching  her  own  daughter-in-law  black  and  blue 
without  remonstrance. 

Blessed  is  the  man  who  treats  his  servant  well,  for  instead 
of  being  squeezed  a hundred  cash  on  a string  of  eggs  he  will 
be  squeezed  only  seventy-five. 

Korean  lore  abounds  in  stories  of  good  little  boys  and  girls 
who  never  steal  bird’s-nests,  nor  play  “ for  keeps,”  nor  tear 


FOLK-LORE 


375 


their  clothes,  nor  strike  back,  nor  tie  tin  cans  to  dogs’  tails. 
They  form  what  we  may  call  the  “Sunday-school  literature” 
of  the  Koreans,  and  they  are  treated  with  the  same  contempt  by 
the  healthy  Korean  boy  or  girl  as  goody-goody  talk  is  treated 
b}'  normal  children  the  world  over. 

While  these  stories  are  many  in  number,  they  are  built  on  a 
surprisingly  small  number  of  models.  After  one  gets  used  to 
the  formulse,  the  first  few  lines  of  a story  reveal  to  him  the 
whole  plot,  including  commencement,  complications,  climax, 
catastrophe  and  conclusion.  For  instance,  there  is  the  stock 
story  of  the  boy  whose  parents  treated  him  in  a most  brutal 
manner  but  who  never  made  a word  of  complaint.  Anticipating 
that  they  will  end  by  throwing  him  into  the  well,  he  goes  down 
one  dark  night  by  the  aid  of  a rope  and  digs  a side  passage  in 
the  earth  just  above  the  surface  of  the  water;  and  so  when  he 
is  thrown  in  headlong  the  following  day,  he  emerges  from  the 
water  and  crawls  into  this  retreat  unknown  to  his  doting  par- 
ents, who  fondly  imagine  they  have  made  all  arrangements  for 
his  future.  About  the  middle  of  the  afternoon  he  crawls  out,  and 
faces  his  astonished  parents  with  a sanctimonious  look  on  his 
face,  which,  from  one  point  of  view,  attests  his  filial  piety,  but 
from  another  says,  “ You  dear  old  humbugs!  You  can't  get  rid 
of  me  so  easily  as  that.”  Be  it  noted,  however,  that  the  pathos 
of  this  story  lies  in  its  exaggerated  description  of  how  Korean 
children  are  sometimes  treated. 

We  also  have  the  case  of  the  beautiful  widow,  the  Korean 
Lucrece,  who,  when  the  King  importuned  her  to  enter  his  harem, 
seized  a knife  and  cut  off  her  own  nose,  thus  ruining  her  beauty. 
Who  can  doubt  that  she  knew  that  by  this  bold  stroke  she  could 
retire  on  a fat  pension  and  become  the  envy  of  all  future  widows  ? 

Then  there  was  the  boy  whose  father  lay  dying  of  hunger. 
The  youth  whetted  a knife,  went  in  to  his  father’s  presence,  cut  a 
generous  piece  of  flesh  from  his  own  thigh  and  offered  it  to  his 
parent.  The  story  takes  no  account  of  the  fact  that  the  old 
reprobate  actually  turned  cannibal  instead  of  dying  like  a decent 


376 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


gentleman.  The  Koreans  seem  quite  unable  to  see  this  moving 
episode  in  more  than  one  light,  and  they  hold  up  their  hands  in 
wondering  admiration,  while  all  the  time  the  story  is  exquisitely 
ironical. 

There  are  numerous  stories  of  the  Lear  type,  where  the 
favourite  children  desert  their  parent,  while  the  one  who  had  been 
the  drudge  turns  out  pure  gold.  There  is  quite  a volume  of  Cin- 
derella stories  in  which  proud  daughters  come  to  grief  in  the 
brambles  and  have  their  faces  scratched  beyond  repair,  while  the 
neglected  one  is  helped  by  the  elves  and  goblins  and  in  the  sequel 
takes  her  rightful  place.  But  these  stories  are  often  marred  by 
the  careless  way  in  which  the  successful  one  looks  upon  the  suf- 
fering and  perhaps  the  death  of  her  humbled  rivals. 

Another  common  theme  is  that  of  the  girl  who  refuses  to 
marry  any  other  man  than  the  one,  perhaps  a beggar,  whom 
her  father  had  jokingly  suggested  as  a possible  husband  for  her. 
The  prevailing  idea  in  this  is  that  the  image  once  formed  in  a 
maiden’s  mind  of  her  future  husband  is,  in  truth,  already  her 
husband,  and  she  must  be  faithful  to  him.  Such  stories  are  a 
gauge  of  actual  domestic  life  in  Korea  inversely  to  the  degree  of 
their  exaggeration. 

A favourite  model  is  that  of  the  boy  who  spends  his  whole 
patrimony  on  his  father’s  funeral  and  becomes  a beggar,  but 
after  a remarkable  series  of  adventures  turns  up  Prime  ^Minister 
of  the  land.  But  in  actual  Korean  life  it  has  never  been  noted 
that  contempt  for  money  is  a leading  characteristic  of  officialdom. 
Far  from  it.  There  is  also  the  type  of  the  evil-minded  woman 
who  was  found  weeping  upon  her  husband’s  grave,  but  when 
asked  why  she  was  inconsolable,  she  replied  that  she  was  moisten- 
ing the  grave  with  her  tears  so  that  the  grass  would  grow  the 
sooner,  for  only  then  could  she  think  of  marrying  again. 

Korea  is  rich  in  tales  of  how  a man’s  honour  or  a woman’s 
virtue  has  been  called  in  question,  and  just  as  the  fatal  moment 
came  the  blow  was  averted  by  some  miraculous  vindication ; as 
when  a hairpin  tossed  into  the  air  fell  and  pierced  the  solid 


FOLK-LORE 


377 


rock,  or  an  artery  was  severed  and  the  blood  ran  white  as  milk, 
or  the  cart  which  was  to  carry  the  traduced  but  innocent  official 
to  his  execution  could  not  be  moved  an  inch,  even  by  seven  yoke 
of  oxen,  until  the  superscription  “ traitor  ” was  changed  to  that 
of  “ patriot.” 

These  are  but  a few  of  the  standard  models,  and  in  examining 
them  we  find  that  they  are  all  highly  exaggerated  cases,  the  in- 
ference apparently  being  that  the  greater  includes  the  less,  and 
that  if  boys  and  girls,  youths  and  maidens,  men  and  women, 
acted  with  virtue  and  discretion  under  these  extreme  circum- 
stances, how  much  more  should  the  reader  do  so  under  less  trying 
conditions.  But  the  result  is  that,  as  Confucianism  proposes  no 
adequate  motive  for  such  altruistic  conduct  and  provides  no 
adequate  punishment  for  delinquency,  the  stories  are  held  in  a 
sort  of  contemptuous  tolerance  without  the  least  attempt  to 
profit  by  them  or  to  apply  them  to  actual  conduct.  This  tendency 
is  well  illustrated  in  another  phase  of  Korean  life.  When  asked 
why  his  people  do  not  try  to  emulate  the  example  of  the  West 
in  industrial  achievements,  the  Korean  points  to  the  distant  past 
and  cites  the  case  of  Yi  Sun-sin,  who  made  the  first  iron-clad 
war-ship  mentioned  in  history;  and  he  actually  believes  Korea 
has  beaten  the  world,  though  Korea  to-day  does  not  possess 
even  a single  fourth-class  gunboat.  Even  so  they  point  to  these 
fantastic  tales  to  illustrate  the  tone  of  Korean  society,  when,  in 
truth,  these  principles  are  as  obsolete  as  the  once  famous  tor- 
toise boat. 

It  should  be  noted  that  while  the  models  given  in  the  “ Five 
Rules  of  Conduct  ” are  mostly  from  the  Chinese,  yet  a vast 
number  of  the  tales  which  are  based  on  these  and  which  pass 
from  mouth  to  mouth,  are  purely  Korean  in  their  setting.  The 
Confucian  imprint  is  there,  but  translated  into  terms  of  Korean 
life  and  feeling. 

I have  already  hinted  that  the  more  recondite  and  esoteric 
ideas  of  Confucianism  are  entirely  waved  aside  and  only  the 
practical  application  is  brought  to  the  fore.  It  is  to  this  fact 


378 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


that  we  must  attribute  the  virility  of  Confucian  ethics  as  a code, 
even  though  there  be  no  effort  to  live  up  to  it.  These  ideas 
are  such  as  belong  to  every  religion  and  every  civilisation,  and 
it  is  just  because  they  are  fundamental  principles  of  all  human 
society  that  they  survive,  at  least,  as  a recognised  standard. 
They  are  axiomatic,  and  to  deny  them  would  be  to  disregard 
the  plainest  dictates  of  common  sense. 

These  stories  form,  as  I have  said,  the  “ Sunday-school 
literature  of  the  Koreans,  and  they  are  taken,  as  in  the  ^^Tst, 
by  a select  few  on  select  occasions.  Everyone  knows  about  them 
and  has  a general  familiarity  with  their  contents,  just  as  every 
Western  child  knows  about  David  and  Goliath,  Jonah  and  the 
whale,  Daniel  and  the  lions;  but  just  as  in  the  Western  nursery 
Mother  Goose,  Cinderella,  Jack  the  Giant-killer,  Alice  in  Won- 
derland and  the  Brownies  are  more  in  evidence  than  religious 
tales,  so  in  Korea  the  dragon  or  fox  story,  the  ipp  and  elf  and 
goblin  story,  are  told  far  oftener  than  the  tales  illustrative  of 
Confucian  ethics. 

When  we  come  to  Buddhistic  stories,  we  find  a larger  volume 
and  a wider  range.  Being  a mystical  religion.  Buddhism  gives 
a much  wider  play  to  the  imagination;  being  a spectacular  reli- 
gion, it  gives  opportunity  for  greater  dramatic  effect;  carrying 
the  soul  beyond  the  gra\  e and  postulating  a definite  system  of 
rewards  and  punishments,  it  affords  a much  broader  stage  for 
its  characters  to  play  their  parts  upon.  The  Confucian  tales  are 
short,  intended  each  to  point  some  particular  moral,  and  con- 
ciseness is  desirable ; but  with  the  Buddhistic  tales  it  is  different. 
The  plots  are  often  long  and  intricate,  the  interrelation  of  human 
events  is  more  carefully  worked  out  and  the  play  of  human 
passions  is  given  more  extended  illustration.  They  approach 
much  closer  to  what  we  would  call  genuine  fiction  than  do  the 
Confucian  tales.  The  latter  are  mere  anecdotes,  and  afford  no 
such  stimulus  to  the  imagination  as  the  Buddhistic  stories  do. 

Another  reason  why  Buddhist  tales  are  so  common  is  that 
Buddhism  was  predominant  in  the  peninsula  for  a period  of 


FOLK-LORE 


3/9 


over  a thousand  years,  and  antedated  the  general  spread  of 
Confucianism  by  many  centuries.  Coming  in  long  before  lit- 
erature, as  such,  had  made  any  headway  in  the  peninsula, 
Buddhism  took  a firm  hold  upon  all  ranks  of  society,  deter- 
mined the  mould  into  which  the  thought  of  the  nation  should 
be  poured,  and  gained  an  ascendency  over  the  Korean  imagina- 
tion which  has  never  been  successfully  disputed.  It  is  probable 
that  at  the  present  time  three  stories  hinge  upon  Buddhism,  where 
one  draws  its  motive  from  Confucian  principles.  The  former 
cult  entered  Korea  about  three  centuries  after  Christ,  but  it  was 
not  until  iioo  A.  D.  that  there  was  any  serious  rivalry  between  it 
and  Confucianism.  By  that  time  Buddhism  had  moulded  Korean 
fancy  to  its  own  shape,  and  had  constituted  itself  some  sort  of 
substitute  for  genuine  religion ; but  Confucianism  never  went 
deeper  than  the  reason,  and  so  the  former  cult,  by  the  priority  of 
its  occupancy  and  by  its  deeper  touch,  made  an  impression  that 
the  latter  code  of  morals  has  never  been  able  to  efface. 

Another  cause  of  the  survival  of  Buddhistic  ideas,  especially 
in  folk-lore,  even  after  Confucianism  became  nominally  the  state 
religion,  was  that  the  latter  gave  such  an  inferior  place  to  women. 
Buddhism  makes  no  such  invidious  comparisons.  The  very 
nature  of  the  cult  forbids  it,  and  Korean  history  is  full  of  inci- 
dents showing  that  women  were  equal  sharers  in  what  were 
believed  to  be  the  benefits  of  religion.  Confucianism,  on  the  other 
hand,  gave  woman  a subordinate  place,  afforded  no  outlet  to  her 
religious  aspirations,  and  made  child-bearing  her  only  service. 
It  is  a literary  cult,  a scholastic  religion,  and  women  are  de- 
barred from  its  most  sacred  arcana.  They  retorted  by  clinging 
the  closer  to  Buddhism,  where  they  found  food  for  their  devo- 
tional instincts,  albeit  the  superstition  was  Egyptian  in  its  dark- 
ness. In  this  they  were  not  opposed.  Confucianism,  the  man’s 
religion,  seemed  to  fancy  that  by  letting  despised  woman  grovel 
in  the  darkness  its  own  prestige  would  be  enhanced.  The  fact 
remains  that  one  of  the  most  striking  peculiarities  about  Korean 
society  to-day  is  that  while  the  men  are  all  nominal  Confucian- 


380 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


ists,  the  women  are  nearly  all  Buddhists,  or  at  least  devotees  of 
one  or  other  of  those  forms  of  superstition  into  which  Buddhism 
has  merged  itself  in  the  peninsula.  What  would  have  become 
of  Buddhism  and  the  monasteries  if  it  had  not  been  for  the 
queens  of  the  present  dynasty?  Even  the  last  twenty  years  give 
abundant  evidence  of  its  potent  power  in  the  female  breast.  It 
is  the  mothers  who  mould  the  children’s  minds ; and  every  boy’s 
and  girl’s  mind  is  saturated  with  Buddhistic  or  semi-Buddhistic 
ideas  long  before  the  Thousand  Character  Classic  is  put  into  his 
hands.  The  imagination  and  fancy  have  become  enthralled,  and, 
while  it  is  true  that  in  time  the  boy  will  be  ridiculed  into  pro- 
fessing contempt  for  Buddhism,  the  girl  clings  to  it  with  a 
tenacity  born  of  sixteen  hundred  years  of  inherited  tendency. 
It  is,  of  course,  a modified  Buddhism.  The  basic  fetichism  and 
animism  which  the  Korean  inherits  from  untold  antiquity  has 
become  so  thoroughly  mixed  with  his  Buddhism  that  we  can 
hardly  tell  where  the  one  leaves  off  and  the  other  begins.  A*e 
are  speaking  now  of  the  common  folk-tales  and  not  the  written 
literature  of  the  country.  The  formal  writings  of  the  past  five 
centuries  are  Confucian,  and  the  models  have  been  those  of  the 
Chinese  sage ; but  they  are  not  for  the  mass  of  the  people,  and 
they  mean  even  less  to  the  common  crowd  than  Shakespeare  and 
Milton  mean  to  the  average  Englishman  or  American. 

I must  mention  one  more  reason  for  the  survival  of  the  Bud- 
dhist element  in  Korean  folk-tales ; that  is,  its  localising  tendency. 
The  story  plays  about  some  special  spot;  it  clings  to  its  own 
hallowed  locus,  and  without  this  it  would  lose  force,  just  as  the 
story  of  William  Tell  or  King  Arthur  or  Evangeline  would  suffer 
if  made  general  as  to  locality.  It  is  because  the  Korean  can 
lead  you  to  a mountain-side  and  say,  “ Here  is  where  INIuhak  the 
monk  stood  when  he  pronounced  the  fatal  words  that  foretold 
the  great  invasion,”  or  show  you  the  very  tree,  now  centuries 
old,  that  Tosan  planted  — it  is  because  of  these  definite  local 
elements  that  these  tales  are  anchored  so  firmly  in  the  Korean 
consciousness.  Any  Confucian  story  might  have  occurred  any- 


FOLK-LORE 


381 


where  at  any  time.  But  old  Diamond  Mountain  carries  as  many 
tales  of  famous  monks  as  it  bears  pines,  and  the  shoulders  of  old 
Halla  Mountain  are  shrouded  in  as  heavy  a cloak  of  Buddhist 
lore  as  of  the  driving  mist  from  off  the  southern  seas. 

The  style  and  make-up  of  the  Buddhistic  story  are  almost 
infinite  in  variety.  What  we  may  call  the  inner  circle  of  Bud- 
dhist philosophy  never  appears  in  these  tales,  but  through  them 
is  constantly  heard  the  cry  for  the  release  from  the  bane  of  exist- 
ence. The  scorn  of  merely  earthly  honours  is  seen  on  every 
page.  Well  indeed  might  the  women  of  Korea  be  willing,  nay, 
long,  to  sink  into  some  nirvana  and  forget  their  sorrows.  Bud- 
dhism is  consistent  at  least  in  this,  that  it  acknowledges  the 
futility  of  mere  existence  and  says  to  every  man,  “ What  are 
you  here  for  ? ” 

The  plots  of  Buddhist  stories  are  too  long  to  give  in  extenso, 
but  a few  salient  points  can  be  indicated.  The  monastery  is  the 
retreat  to  which  the  baffled  hero  retires,  and  in  which  he  receives 
his  literary  and  military  education,  and  from  it  he  sallies  forth 
to  overthrow  the  enemies  of  his  country  and  claim  his  lawful 
place  before  the  King.  Or,  again,  a monastery  may  be  the  scene 
of  an  awful  crime  which  the  hero  discloses,  and  thus  vindicates 
the  right.  There  is  no  witch  nor  wizard  nor  fairy  godmother 
in  Korea.  It  is  the  silent  monk  who  appears  at  the  crucial  point 
and  stays  the  hand  of  death  with  a potent  drug,  or  warns  the 
hero  of  his  danger,  or  tells  him  how  to  circumvent  his  foes.  Now 
and  again,  like  Elijah  of  old,  a monk  dares  to  face  the  King 
and  charge  him  with  his  faults,  or  give  enigmatical  advice  which 
delivers  the  land  from  some  terrible  fate.  Often  a wandering 
monk  is  shown  a kindness  by  some  boy,  and  in  after  years  by  his 
mysterious  power  raises  the  lad  to  affluence  and  fame. 

In  these  days  one  never  connects  the  idea  of  scholarship  with 
a Buddhist  monastery,  but  the  folk-lore  of  Korea  abounds  in 
stories  in  which  the  hero  retires  to  a monastery  and  learns  not 
only  letters  but  astrology  and  geomancy.  Even  military  science 
seems  to  have  been  taught  in  these  retreats.  From  no  other 


382 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


source  do  we  derive  so  much  information  about  the  monasteries 
in  the  middle  ages  as  we  do  from  these  same  stories.  While  in 
Europe  the  monastery  was  the  repository  of  learning  and  culture, 
to  which  the  war-worn  veteran  retired  to  do  penance  for  his 
sanguinary  career,  in  Korea  it  was  the  school  in  which  the  young 
man  learned  the  science  of  war  as  well. 

Folk-lore  shows  the  part  that  Buddhism  has  played  in  de- 
termining many  other  phases  of  Korean  life  as  seen  to-day. 
Take,  for  instance,  the  penal  code.  The  punishments  until  lately 
inflicted  upon  criminals  were  evidently  copied  from  the  repre- 
sentations of  the  Buddhistic  hell.  Of  course  these  originally 
■emanated  for  man’s  imagination,  and  one  might  argue  that  the 
horrors  of  the  Buddhist  hell  are  borrowed  from  the  system  of 
punishments  in  vogue  in  Korea,  were  it  not  that  the  system  was 
brought  complete  from  India  by  way  of  China.  The  crystal- 
lisation of  these  inhumanities  into  religious  forms  has  perpetu- 
ated the  ancient  and  gruesome  horrors,  and  prevented  the  advent 
of  humaner  forms  of  punishment  commensurate  with  the  general 
advance  in  civilisation. 

Buddhistic  stories  have  bred  in  the  Korean  a repugnance  to 
taking  the  life  of  any  animal.  To  make  blood  flow  is  beneath 
the  dignity  of  any  decent  man,  and  though  Buddhism  has  been 
politically  under  the  ban  for  five  centuries,  the  butcher  has, 
until  recently,  been  counted  with  the  chilban,  or  “ seven  kinds,” 
which  include  mountebanks,  harlots,  slaves  and  sorceresses. 
And  yet  this  repugnance  to  taking  life  does  not  prevent  the 
most  revolting  cruelty  to  animals  of  all  kinds.  Many  other 
points  might  be  cited  to  show  how  Buddhist  lore  has  tended  to 
perpetuate  ideas  that  are  not  only  outside  the  Confucian  system 
but  directly  antagonistic  thereto. 

And  this  brings  us  to  our  next  point,  the  antagonism  be- 
tween these  two  religions.  During  the  whole  of  the  Koryu 
dynasty  (918-1392)  a bitter  fight  was  kept  up  between  the  ad- 
herents of  these  two  cults.  No  one  was  then  both  a Buddhist 
and  a Confucianist,  as  is  quite  common  to-day.  Sanguinary 


FOLK-LORE 


383 


■struggles  took  place  in  which  Buddhism  was  uniformly  success- 
ful; but  there  was  always  left  the  nucleus  of  an  opposition,  and 
in  the  end,  when  Buddhism  had  dragged  the  nation  in  the  mire 
and  made  her  contemptible,  the  Confucian  element  came  to  the 
surface  again,  and  by  one  bold  stroke  effected,  at  least  on  the  sur- 
face of  things,  one  of  the  most  sweeping  changes  that  any  people 
has  ever  experienced,  comparable  to  the  French  Revolution. 
This  struggle  between  the  two  systems  could  not  but  leave  an 
indelible  mark  upon  the  folk-lore  of  the  country.  A volume 
■could  be  filled  with  stories  illustrating  in  detail  the  successes  now 
of  one  side  and  now  of  the  other.  Once  when  the  Confucian 
element  prevailed  and  the  Buddhist  pontifex  was  condemned  to 
death,  he  foretold  that  when  his  head  fell  his  blood  would  flow 
white  like  milk  to  vindicate  his  cause.  It  turned  out  even  so,  and 
his  executioners  bowed  to  the  logic  of  the  occasion  and  rein- 
stated the  formerly  despised  cult.  Again  a raven  was  the  bearer 
of  a missive  to  the  King  bidding  him  to  hasten  to  the  Queen's 
quarters  and  shoot  an  arrow  through  the  zither-case.  He  obeyed, 
and  found  that  the  arrow  had  taken  effect  in  the  body  of  the  high 
priest,  who  had  taken  advantage  of  the  King’s  absence  to  attack 
the  honour  of  the  Queen.  In  one  instance  a test  was  made  to 
see  whether  Confucian  or  Buddhistic  principles  were  better  able 
to  control  the  passions.  A leading  representative  of  each  of  the 
•cults  were  subjected  to  the  blandishments  of  a courtesan,  with 
the  result  that  Confucianism  scored  a notable  triumph. 

So  far  as  we  have  found,  Korean  folk-lore  accords  the  palm 
of  victory  in  a majority  of  cases  to  the  Buddhist  side.  This  is 
doubtless  because  Buddhism  made  far  greater  use  of  folk-tales 
to  impress  itself  upon  the  people  than  did  Confucianism.  The 
latter  is  the  more  reasonable  cult,  but  Buddhism  chose  the  better, 
or  at  least  the  surer,  part  by  capturing  the  imagination  and 
monopolising  the  mystical  element  which  is  so  prominent  in  Ori- 
ental character.  After  Confucianism  had  secured  a firm  hold 
upon  the  government,  it  cared  little  what  Buddhism  did  in  the 
moral  sphere.  All  physical  contest  between  them  came  to  an 


384 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


end,  and  they  became  blended  in  the  Korean  consciousness  in 
so  far  as  the  antipodes  can  blend.  This  also  has  left  its  mark 
upon  Korean  folk-lore.  The  longest  and  most  thoroughly  elabo- 
rated stories  show  Buddhi^sm  and  Confucianism  hand  in  hand. 
The  former  supplies  the  dramatic  element,  and  the  latter  the 
ethical.  The  motive  is  Confucian,  the  action  Buddhistic. 

Under  the  head  of  shamanistic  stories  I include  all  tales  which 
hinge  upon  shamanism,  fetichism,  animism  and  the  like.  They 
are  the  stories  which  appeal  to  the  basic  element  in  the  Korean. 
Before  he  was  a Confucianist,  before  he  was  a Buddhist,  he  was 
a nature  worshipper.  True  enough,  the  monk  can  scare  him  with 
his  pictures  of  a physical  hell,  but  it  is  as  nothing  to  the  fear 
he  has  of  the  spirit  which  inhabits  yonder  tree  on  the  hillside. 
The  Confucianist  can  make  the  chills  run  up  and  down  his  back 
by  an  inventory  of  the  evil  passions  of  the  heart ; but  it  will  not 
begin  to  compare  with  the  horror  which  seizes  him  when  in  the 
middle  of  the  night  a weasel  overturns  a jar  in  the  kitchen,  and 
he  feels  sure  that  a tokgabi  is  at  work  among  his  lares  and 
penates.  The  merchant  will  not  be  moved  by  a homily  on  the 
duty  of  fair  dealing  with  one’s  fellow-men,  but  he  will  spend  all 
day  spelling  out  from  the  calendar  a lucky  day  on  which  to  carry 
out  a plan  for  “ doing  ” an  unwary  customer.  Countless  are 
the  stories  based  upon  these  themes.  The  spirits  of  mountain, 
stream,  tree,  rock  or  cave  play  through  Korean  fiction  as  the 
fairy,  goblin  or  genius  does  through  the  pages  of  the  “ Arabian 
Nights.” 

This  portion  of  our  theme  is  of  greater  interest  than  almost 
any  other,  for  while  Buddhism  and  Confucianism  are  both  impor- 
tations, and  bring  with  them  many  ideas  originally  alien  to  the 
Korean  mind,  we  have  here  the  product  of  the  indigenous  and 
basic  elements  of  their  character.  And  yet,  even  after  the  lapse 
of  so  many  centuries,  it  is  difficult  to  segregate  the  original 
Korean  and  the  imported  Chinese  ingredients  in  these  tales ; but 
we  may  be  sure  that  here  if  anywhere  we  shall  come  near  to 
the  genuine  Korean. 


FOLK-LORE 


385 


First  come  the  stories  based  upon  the  belief  that  animals  can 
acquire  the  power  to  transform  themselves  into  men.  These  are 
among  the  stories  that  children  love  best.  There  was  the  wild 
boar  that  drank  of  the  water  that  had  lain  for  twenty  years  in 
a human  skull,  and  thus  acquired  power  to  assume  the  human 
shape,  but  with  this  fatal  limitation,  that  if  a dog  looked  him  in 
the  face  he  would  be  obliged  to  resume  his  natural  shape.  There 
is  the  fox  which  turned  into  a woman,  an  Oriental  Circe,  and 
worked  the  destruction  of  an  empire.  Now  and  again  a centena- 
rian toad  assumes  human  shape,  and  acts  as  valet  to  the  tiger, 
who  is  masquerading  as  a gentleman.  A serpent  turns  into  a 
beautiful  maiden  and  lures  a man  to  the  brink  of  destruction,  but, 
being  thwarted,  changes  its  tactics  and  infests  his  body  with 
a myriad  of  little  snakes,  from  which  he  is  delivered  by  the 
sparrows,  who  kindly  peck  holes  in  his  skin  and  let  the  reptiles 
out.  There  is  a clear  line  of  demarcation  between  the  good  and 
the  bad  animals.  The  fox,  tiger,  wild  boar,  serpent  and  toad 
are  always  bad,  while  the  rabbit,  frog,  tortoise  and  dragon  are 
invariably  good.  As  the  tiger  is  the  most  destructive  animal  in 
Korea,  we  are  not  surprised  to  find  a great  number  of  stories, 
telling  how  he  turned  into  a girl  and  came  crying  to  the  door 
of  a house  in  order  to  lure  out  its  inmates.  This  is  the  “ bug- 
aboo ” story  with  which  Korean  children  are  frightened  into 
obedience. 

Many  are  the  wonders  worked  by  the  tokgahis,  the  imps  that 
delight  to  make  trouble  in  the  household.  No  Korean  will  pro- 
fess to  have  seen  one  or  to  have  been  the  victim  of  his  tricks, 
but  every  Korean  knows  of  someone  else  who  has  so  suffered. 
They  believe  that  these  imps  are  the  spirits  of  wicked  men  who 
have  been  refused  entrance  into  the  place  of  the  blessed,  and  have 
no  option  but  to  haunt  their  former  places  of  abode ; or  they  may 
be  the  spirits  of  good  people  who  have  died  by  violence,  or  under 
other  painful  circumstances,  and  cannot  go  to  paradise  because 
of  the  desire  of  revenge  which  burns  in  them.  Sometimes  they 
take  the  shape  of  a man  with  the  lower  half  of  his  body  gone. 


386 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


sometimes  that  of  a flying  man  or  child.  At  other  times  they 
appear  in  the  shape  of  fire  or  lightning,  or  a crash  as  of 
thunder. 

Many  stories  are  told  of  how  these  tormented  spirits  have 
leagued  themselves  with  men,  promising  that  the  unholy  com- 
pact will  bring  riches  and  power.  This  corresponds  to  the  witch- 
craft of  the  West.  By  the  aid  of  these  familiar  spirits  many  a 
deed  of  darkness  is  done  ; but  the  promises  always  fail,  and  the 
man  becomes  pinched  and  pale,  and  he  gradually  wastes  away. 
It  is  only  by  breaking  the  compact  that  he  can  save  himself  from 
disaster.  The  things  the  tokgabi  dreads  the  most  are  silver,  a 
red  colour  and  a tree  that  has  been  struck  by  lightning.  iMen 
may  break  the  spell  by  hanging  about  the  house  cloths  dipped  in 
a red  dye.  This  barrier  the  spirit  cannot  pass,  and  after  four 
days  of  waiting  he  departs  never  to  come  again.  His  dread  of 
silver  reminds  us  of  the  superstition  in  the  MTst,  that  in  order 
to  shoot  a ghost  one  must  load  the  gun  with  a silver  piece  as  well 
as  the  regular  charge.  If  a tokgabi  seizes  a man,  it  always  lays 
hold  of  his  top-knot ; for  this  reason  it  is  that  so  many  Koreans 
wear  a little  sih'er  pin  in  the  end  of  that  ornamental  member. 
If  a tree  is  struck  by  lightning,  the  boys  of  the  neighbourhood 
will  hasten  to  secure  splinters  of  the  wood  to  carry  in  their 
pouches  as  a charm  against  the  fiends. 

This  meddlesome  sprite  is  a sort  of  Korean  Puck,  and  any 
casualty  whose  cause  is  not  patent  is  laid  at  his  door.  One  of 
his  favourite  pastimes  is  to  bewitch  the  rice-kettle  and  make  the 
co\'er  fall  in.  The  cover  is  a trifle  larger  than  the  kettle’s  mouth, 
and  the  trick  would  seem  to  be  impossible ; but  if  the  cover  were 
cold  and  the  kettle  made  very  hot,  the  expansion  of  the  metal 
might  make  even  this  possible.  This  may  have  occurred  once  or 
twice  in  all  the  centuries,  and  it  is  still  cited  as  evidence  of 
the  existence  of  these  imps.  The  tokgabi  seldom  plays  the  lead- 
ing part  in  a Korean  story,  but  he  flits  in  and  out  and  adds  spice 
to  the  narrative. 

Prominent  among  the  folk-tales  are  those  of  the  Uncle  Remus 


FOLK-LORE 


387 


type ; and  it  is  very  commonly  the  rabbit  that  outwits  his  stronger 
enemies.  A wicked  tortoise,  in  search  of  a rabbit’s  liver  to  use 
as  medicine  in  healing  the  sea-king’s  daughter,  inveigled  a rabbit 
into  riding  on  his  back  across  the  water  to  an  island  that  the 
tortoise  said  was  a rabbit’s  paradise.  When  well  out  from  shore, 
the  tortoise  bade  the  rabbit  prepare  to  die,  for  his  liver  was 
needed  down  below.  After  a moment’s  thought  the  rabbit 
laughed  and  said : “ You  might  have  had  it  without  all  this 
trouble.  We  are  made  with  removable  livers,  so  that  after  eating 
too  much  we  can  throw  our  livers  out  and  wash  them  and  keep 
them  cool.  I had  just  laid  mine  out  to  dry  when  you  came,  and 
your  story  was  so  fascinating  that  I forgot  the  liver  entirely. 
You  are  welcome  to  it  if  you  will  let  me  show  you  where  it  is.’” 
So  the  rabbit  got  safely  back  to  shore  and  had  a good  laugh  at 
the  expense  of  the  tortoise. 

Spirits  are  everywhere,  and  they  turn  up  on  the  most  unlikely 
occasion.  Even  the  door-hinges  or  the  chopsticks  may  be  the 
abode  of  an  imp  who  has  the  power  to  change  a man’s  whole 
destiny.  As  a rule,  they  seem  to  be  on  the  watch  for  someone 
to  injure  them,  for  only  so  can  they  gain  the  power  they  crave. 
These  stories  deal  with  the  lowly  and  humble  things  of  life, 
and  it  is  in  them  that  Korean  humour  shows  itself  to  the  best 
advantage.  Their  influence  is  very  great,  and  it  may  be  said 
with  some  degree  of  confidence  that  they  define  the  religion  of 
far  more  Koreans  than  do  the  more  high-sounding  names  of  Bitd- 
dhism  and  Confucianism.  If  they  had  been  left  to  themselves' 
and  had  not  been  made  the  dumping-ground  for  other  people’s 
religions,  it  is  probable  that  they  would  have  developed  some 
such  pantheon  as  that  of  the  Greeks ; but  even  as  it  is,  we  find 
them  worshipping  the  spirits  of  grove  and  rock  and  mountain 
with  a fervour  that  neither  Buddhism  nor  Confucianism  can 
arouse. 

Y’e  will  now  consider  briefly  the  legends  of  Korea.  Under 
this  heading  we  include  all  supernatural  or  extra-natural  inci- 
dents, believed  by  the  credulous  to  form  a part  of  the  history 


388 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


of  the  country.  These  stories  are  always  short  and  pithy  and 
are  truly  indigenous.  Most  of  them  are  of  great  antiquity  and 
antedate  any  considerable  Japanese  or  Chinese  influence. 

Many  legends  deal  with  the  founding  of  the  various  dynas- 
ties and  kingdoms  that  have  flourished  here  from  time  to  time. 
We  find  upon  examination  that  the  egg  plays  a very  important 
part  in  the  origin  of  ancient  heroes.  To  be  sure,  the  Tangun,  the 
most  ancient  of  all,  had  another  and  a unique  origin.  A bear, 
by  patient  Avaiting  in  a cave,  at  the  command  of  the  great  spirit 
became  a Avoman.  Whan-ung,  the  son  of  the  Creator,  sought 
and  found  her,  and  she  bore  a son  Avho  is  knoAvn  as  Tangun, 
contemporary  Avith  Noah.  The  founder  of  the  great  southern 
kingdom  of  Silla  (57  b.  C.-918  a.  d.)  Avas  brought  forth  from 
a gigantic  egg  that  Avas  found  in  a forest.  The  founder  of 
Koguryu  in  the  north  came  also  from  an  egg  of  superhuman 
origin.  One  of  the  early  heroes  of  Silla  came  from  an  egg  that 
floated  in  from  the  sea  in  a chest.  The  origin  of  the  three 
heroes  of  Quelpart  is  different.  They  arose  from  a hole  in  the 
ground.  The  founder  of  Koryu  had  for  mother  the  daughter 
of  the  sea-king,  the  Korean  Neptune.  Another  mighty  man 
came  from  beneath  a boulder  in  the  shape  of  a golden  toad. 

Closely  connected  Avith  these  are  the  tales  Avhich  deal  Avith 
the  omens  and  signs  that  heralded  the  coming  of  momentous 
events.  It  Avas  ahvays  the  evil  fortune  that  Avas  thus  fore- 
shadoAved.  Fear  is  a main  element  in  the  religion  of  all  semi- 
civilised  people,  and  this  fear  has  made  them  quick  to  detect  the 
signs  of  coming  danger.  Before  the  kingdom  of  Pakche  fell, 
imps  fleAV  through  the  palace  corridors,  .screaming,  “Pakche  is 
fallen,”  and  then  dived  into  the  earth.  Digging  at  the  point 
Avhere  they  disappeared,  the  King  found  a tortoise  on  Avhose  back 
Avas  Avritten,  “ Pakche's  sun  is  at  the  zenith,”  Avhich  meant  that 
it  Avas  ready  to  go  doAvn.  In  other  cases,  tigers  have  come  doAvn 
from  the  mountains  and  Avandered  in  the  streets  of  the  capital ; 
the  sea  has  turned  red  like  blood ; meteors,  comets  and  eclipses 
have  appeared;  abnormal  births,  either  human  or  animal,  haA'e 


FOLK-LORE 


389 


taken  place;  a white  fox  has  crossed  the  road  in  front  of  the 
King,  insects  have  fallen  in  showers,  thunder  has  been  heard  in 
winter,  fruit  trees  have  blossomed  late  in  the  fall,  a white  bow 
has  pierced  the  sun,  red  snow  has  fallen,  wailing  sounds  have 
proceeded  from  the  royal  tombs,  a city  or  temple  gate  has  been 
blown  down,  clouds  or  frogs  have  fought  with  each  other.  All 
these  and  many  more  are  met  with  in  Korean  legend,  and  every 
one  of  them  has  meant  death  or  destruction  or  some  other  dire 
calamity.  It  is  interesting  to  note  how  closely  some  of  these 
correspond  to  the  signs  which  were  dreaded  by  the  ancient 
Romans.  Among  the  signs  which  predict  good  fortune,  the 
most  prominent  are  the  meeting  with  a white  deer,  the  finding 
of  a white  pheasant  or  a white  crow,  or  the  discovery  of  a stem 
of  barley  with  two  stalks.  But  many  happy  events  have  been 
foretold  by  dreams.  The  founder  of  the  present  dynasty  is  said 
to  have  dreamed  that  he  saw  a sheep  running  over  the  hills,  and 
as  it  ran  its  horns  and  tail  dropped  off.  This  meant  that  the 
two  upper  strokes  and  the  lower  stroke  of  the  Chinese  character 
for  sheep  had  been  taken  away,  leaving  the  character  for  king! 
Yi  Sun-sin,  who  saved  Korea  in  1592,  had  a dream  in  which 
he  saw  himself  defending  a tree  which  vandals  were  attempting 
to  cut  down.  A maiden  dreamed  that  she  saw  a dragon  enter 
her  father’s  ink-water  bottle.  When  she  awoke  she  took  the 
bottle  and  hid  it  until  in  after  years  her  own  son  was  ready  to 
go  up  to  Seoul  and  take  the  examinations.  She  gave  it  to  him, 
and  promised  that  the  dragon  would  help  him  take  his  degree. 
It  did,  and  he  became  Prime  Minister. 

Prophecy  plays  an  important  part  in  Korean  legendary  lore. 
Of  course,  it  is  almost  all  ex  post  facto  prophecy,  but  the 
Koreans  still  cling  to  it.  Most  of  the  leading  events  in  Korean 
history  since  the  tenth  century  are  said  to  have  been  foretold 
at  some  earlier  time.  There  does  not  seem  to  have  been  any 
prophetic  office,  but  now  and  again  a monk  or  a scholar  has 
been  moved  to  tell  his  vision  of  the  future.  The  monk  Muhak 
objected  to  the  site  upon  which  it  was  proposed  to  build  the 


390 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


first  palace  at  Seoul,  and  affirmed  that  if  it  was  built  there  a 
great  calamity  would  overtake  the  country  in  just  two  hundred 
years.  His  words  were  unheeded,  and  just  two  hundred  years 
later  the  armies  of  Hideyoshi  landed  on  the  coast  of  southern 
Korea.  To  prove  that  these  prophecies  were  not  all  made  after 
the  event,  the  Korean  points  to  those  prophecies  which  ha\'e 
existed  for  centuries  and  are  as  yet  unfulfilled.  The  most  strik- 
ing of  these  is  that  the  present  dynasty  will  be  followed  by  one 
that  will  have  its  capital  at  Kye-ryong  IMountain  in  the  south. 
Another  affirmed  that  this  dynasty  would  have  great  difficulty 
in  passing  its  five-hundredth  anniversary.  As  that  year  came 
just  after  the  China-Japan  war,  many  Koreans  watched  with 
the  utmost  solicitude  to  see  whether  the  dangerous  point  would 
be  passed  in  safety.  The  latest  one  to  come  to  light  is  that, 
“ When  white  pines  grow  in  Korea,  the  northern  half  of  the 
peninsula  will  go  to  the  Tartar  and  the  southern  half  to  the 
shrimp.”  The  Koreans  interpret  the  “ white  pines  ” to  be 
the  telegraph  poles,  and  Tartar  to  be  Russia,  and  the  shrimp 
to  be  Japan;  for  the  islands  of  Japan  are  noted  as  being  in  the 
shape  of  a shrimp. 

^^dlen  the  monk  Tosan  in  918  ascended  Songak  and  chose 
the  site  for  the  capital  of  the  Koryu  dynasty,  he  made  a mistake, 
for  when  he  went  to  take  another  look  in  the  morning  he  saw 
far  away  to  the  south  the  peaks  of  Samgak  IMountains  peeping 
above  the  nearer  range,  thus  forming  the  dreaded  kytibong,  or 
“ spying  peak  ” ; and  for  this  reason  he  said  that  within  five 
hundred  years  the  dynasty  would  fall  before  another  whose 
capital  should  be  at  the  foot  of  Samgak.  Four  hundred  and 
se^■enty-six  years  later  his  word  came  true. 

Another  style  of  legend  deals  with  the  supernatural  aid  that 
was  given  in  important  crises  in  history.  When  Chumong  fled 
from  home  before  his  brothers  and  came  to  an  impassable  river, 
the  fish  came  to  the  surface  and  formed  a solid  bridge  upon 
which  he  crossed  to  safety.  \Mien  the  capital  of  Silla  was 
attacked  by  wild  men,  strange  warriors  appeared  with  ears  like 


FOLK-LORE 


391 


bamboo  leaves  and  delivered  the  town.  The  next  day  the  King- 
found  his  father’s  gra\'e  strewn  with  the  leaves,  and  he  then 
knew  that  his  father’s  spirit  had  led  forth  an  army  of  spirits 
and  had  delivered  him. 

The  battlefields  of  Korea,  as  of  every  other  land,  form  the 
background  for  many  a thrilling  tale.  When  the  army  of 
Koguryu  went  forth  to  conquer  Puyu,  they  heard  the  sound  of 
clashing  arms  in  Yimul  forest.  The  leaders  pushed  forward 
and  found  swords  and  spears  clashing  against  each  other  in 
mimic  battle,  but  wielded  by  invisible  hands.  It  was  deemed  a 
good  omen.  The  weapons  were  taken,  and  with  them  the  foe 
was  conquered.  When  rebels  besieged  Kyong-ju,  a star  fell  in 
the  city,  a sign  of  destruction.  The  rebels  rejoiced;  but  the 
stubborn  general  within,  defying  even  the  fates,  sent  up  a kite 
with  a lantern  attached,  and  the  rebels,  thinking  that  it  was  the 
star  and  that  the  decree  of  heaven  had  been  reversed,  raised  the 
siege  and  decamped. 

At  one  time  or  another  almost  every  foot  of  Korean  soil 
has  been  the  scene  of  battle,  and  the  tales  of  wonderful  marks- 
manship, heroic  daring,  gigantic  strength,  subtle  stratagem,  in- 
ventive genius,  intrepid  horsemanship  and  hairbreadth  escape 
by  field  and  flood  are  among  the  commonest  household  words 
in  Korea.  Who  can  worthily  sing  the  praises  of  Yi  Yu-song, 
against  whose  body  bullets  flattened  themselves  and  fell  harmless 
to  the  ground ; or  of  Kwak-Cha-u,  the  “ General  of  the  Red 
Robe,”  who  to-day  would  be  falling  upon  the  enemy  in  Chulla 
and  to-morrow  would  take  breakfast  in  Kyong-ju,  a thousand 
li  away,  because  he  had  the  power  to  “wrinkle  the  ground”? 
He  would  make  the  ground  contract  before  him,  and,  after  he 
had  stepped  over  it,  expand  it  again  and  find  that  he  had  gone 
a hundred  li.  Many  are  the  dei  e.v  niachina  like  this,  whereby 
men  have  been  saved  from  seemingly  desperate  situations. 

Women,  too,  come  in  for  their  full  share  of  attention,  from 
the  time  of  Yuwha,  the  mermaid  princess  mother  of  Chumong, 
down  to  the  time  of  Nonga,  the  dancing-girl  patriot,  who  seized 


392 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


the  Japanese  general,  her  enforced  paramour,  and  leaped  to 
death  with  him  from  the  wall  of  Chin-ju,  in  the  days  of  the 
great  invasion.  Most  notable  was  the  Queen  of  the  last  King 
of  Pakche,  who,  upon  the  approach  of  the  ruthless  enemy,  led 
her  maids  to  the  top  of  a beetling  precipice  and  threw  herself 
into  the  water  below  rather  than  suffer  indignity  at  the  hands 
of  the  conquerors.  That  is  the  Nakwhaam,  or  “ Precipice  of 
the  Falling  Flowers,”  a name  of  most  poetic  beauty. 

Tongman,  the  first  woman  ruler  in  Silla,  divined,  from  the 
fire  in  the  frogs’  eyes,  that  the  enemy  had  crossed  the  border  of 
her  realm.  Seo,  the  faithful  wife,  followed  her  husband  to 
Japan  on  the  flying  boulder  and  became  a queen  there.  She 
wove  the  magic  silk  on  which  the  King  of  Silla  sacrificed,  and 
thus  brought  back  the  light  of  heaven  to  his  realm,  which,  since 
her  departure,  had  been  shrouded  in  Egyptian  darkness.  There 
was  also  the  Korean  Judith,  who,  during  the  occupation  of 
Pyeng-yang  by  the  Japanese  in  1592,  brought  her  brother  over 
the  wall  at  night  to  smite  off  the  head  of  her  captor,  who  slept 
bolt  upright  at  a table  with  a sword  in  each  hand  and  with  only 
one  eye  shut  at  a time.  Even  after  his  head  had  rolled  to  the 
floor,  he  arose  in  his  place  and  hurled  one  of  his  swords  with 
such  tremendous  force  that  it  went  clean  through  a massive 
wooden  pillar. 

There  are  stories  of  women  notorious  for  their  wickedness, 
as,  for  instance,  the  Princess  of  Ang-nang,  who  married  a prince 
of  Yemak  and  one  night  went  and  cut  open  the  head  of  the  big 
drum  which,  without  touch  of  mortal  hand,  always  emitted  a 
booming  sound  when  an  enemy  was  approaching.  Soon  after 
this  messengers  came  hurrying  with  the  news  that  the  Ang-nang 
forces  were  crossing  the  border,  but  the  King  laughed  at  it, 
saying  that  the  drum  had  given  no  warning.  Too  late  it  was 
found  that  the  drum  was  destroyed. 

A fruitful  source  of  Korean  legend  is  the  wisdom  shown 
by  magistrates  and  governors  in  deciding  knotty  questions  of 
law.  These  bear  witness  to  the  rich  fund  of  humour  in  the 


FOLK-LORE 


393 


Korean,  which  keeps  him  cheerful  and  patient  through  centuries 
of  — what  shall  we  say  ? — anything  but  ideal  government. 

A boy  accidentally  shot  his  parent  and  came  weeping  to  the 
prefect,  who  had  not  the  heart  to  execute  the  penalty  of  the 
law  on  him.  But  the  prefect’s  son,  coming  at  the  moment  and 
seeing  his  father’s  perplexity,  asked  the  cause,  and,  being  told, 
exclaimed : “ The  boy  must  be  killed.  If  his  heart  had  been 
right,  he  would  not  have  waited  for  the  law  to  punish  him; 
he  would  have  killed  himself.  It  is  plain  that  his  tears  are  only 
to  excite  pity.”  So  the  prefect  sent  the  boy  up  to  Seoul  for 
execution. 

A hunter  had  wounded  a fox  and  was  chasing  it  down  when 
a dog  ran  out  of  a house  and  caught  the  animal.  The  owner 
of  the  dog  claimed  the  game.  The  magistrate  decided  as  fol- 
lows : “ It  is  evident  that  what  the  hunter  was  after  was  the 
animal’s  skin,  while  the  dog  thought  only  of  its  flesh.  Let  each 
have  what  he  was  after.” 

Early  one  morning  at  a country  inn  a good  horse  was  stolen 
and  a poor  spavined  brute  was  left  in  its  place.  The  prefect 
was  appealed  to.  He  ordered  that  the  miserable  animal  that 
had  been  left  be  deprived  of  water  for  two  days  and  then  set 
free  upon  the  road.  Of  course  it  went  straight  for  its  former 
master’s  house  in  a distant  village,  and  there  the  stolen  horse 
was  found. 

When  we  speak  of  myth,  we  take  the  word  in  its  strict 
meaning,  — some  extra-natural  origin  of  a natural  phenomenon. 
At  the  very  start  we  must  say  that  the  Korean  imagination  has 
never  been  capable  of  those  grand  flights  of  fancy  which  pro- 
duced the  enchanting  myths  of  Greece.  Nor  has  it  been  virile 
enough  or  elemental  enough  to  evolve  the  stern  heroes  of  the 
Norse  mythology.  The  Greek,  the  Roman,  the  Scandinavian 
pantheons  are  filled  with  figures  that  loom  gigantic  and  awful, 
Avhile  in  Korea  these  agencies  all  seem,  somehow,  less  than  man ; 
sometimes  craftier,  often  stronger,  but  seldom  worthier  or  better. 
So,  instead  of  giving  us  a Phoebus  Apollo  to  lead  out  the  chariot 


394 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


of  the  sun,  the  Korean  gives  us  the  reason  why  the  bedbug  is 
so  very  flat.  Instead  of  fancying  that  the  cirrus  clouds  are 
flocks  of  sheep  feeding  in  ethereal  pastures,  the  Korean  tells  us 
why  sparrows  hop  on  both  feet  while  magpies  walk  by  putting 
one  foot  before  the  other.  The  Greek  mythology  is  telescopic, 
the  Korean  microscopic.  If  you  want  to  know  the  origin  of 
fire,  of  the  precession  of  the  equinoxes,  of  echo  or  of  lightning, 
you  must  go  to  the  Greek;  but  if  you  desire  to  learn  why  the 
ant  has  such  a small  waist,  or  why  the  louse  has  a black  spot 
on  its  breast,  or  why  crabs  walk  sideways,  you  must  consult 
Korean  lore.  A single  sample  will  suffice. 

The  flies  and  the  sparrows  had  a quarrel  and  agreed  to 
arbitrate.  The  governor  of  Pyeng-an  was  chosen  to  settle  the 
matter.  The  flies  charged  the  sparrows  with  stealing  the  rice 
from  the  harvest  fields  and  of  building  their  nests  under  the 
eaves  of  the  houses  and  causing  all  sorts  of  disturbances.  With- 
out waiting  to  hear  the  other  side  of  the  case,  the  governor 
ordered  the  sparrows  to  be  beaten  on  the  legs.  As  the  blows 
began  to  fall,  the  sparrows  hopped  up  and  down  in  pain  and 
begged  that  their  side  of  the  story  be  heard.  The  governor 
complied,  and  then  the  advocate  of  the  sparrows  charged  the 
flies  with  laying  eggs  in  the  standing  rice  and  ruining  whole 
crops,  with  entering  houses  and  defiling  the  food  and  waking 
the  sleepers  in  the  early  morning.  The  governor  would  hear 
no  more,  but  ordered  the  flies  to  be  beaten  unmercifully.  It  was 
their  turn  to  be  humble  then.  They  came  before  the  governor 
and,  rubbing  their  hands  together  as  Koreans  always  do  when 
supplicating,  asked  that  they  be  let  off.  After  thinking  it  over, 
the  governor  pardoned  both  sides,  but,  in  order  that  neither  the 
sparrows  nor  the  flies  should  forget  the  warning,  he  decreed 
that  for  all  time  the  sparrows  should  hop  instead  of  walk,  and 
th.at  whenever  a fly  alighted  he  should  rub  his  hands  together, 
as  they  had  just  done  before  him ! 

In  like  manner  Korean  lore  tells  why  flounders  have  both 
eyes  on  the  same  side  of  th.e  head,  why  shad  have  so  many 


FOLK-LORE 


395 


bones,  wny  the  full  moon  contains  a picture  of  a tree  with  a 
rabbit  beneath,  wh}^  sorghum  seeds  are  enveloped  in  a red  case, 
why  clams  are  simply  birds  that  have  fallen  into  the  sea,  how 
the  serpent  and  the  octopus  had  a fight  and  as  a result  the  ser- 
pent had  to  surrender  his  four  feet  to  the  octopus,  how  the 
earthworm  had  his  feet  all  taken  away  and  given  to  the  centi- 
pede, — all  these  and  many  another  cpiaint  and  curious  freak  of 
nature  is  explained  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  Korean. 

Thus  far  we  have  been  able  to  classify  roughly  the  different 
types  of  Korean  folk-tales,  but  outside  these  limits  there  is  a 
whole  realm  of  miscellaneous  fiction,  so  varied  in  its  character 
as  tO'  defy  classification;  and  we  can  enumerate  only  individual 
types.  I should  include  under  one  head  all  those  tales  which 
draw  their  inspiration  from  the  workings  of  human  passions. 
Of  the  love-stoi')^,  as  we  know  it  in  the  West,  Korean  lore  is 
entirely  innocent.  Social  conditions,  which  prevent  personal 
contact  between  men  and  women  of  a marriageable  age,  suffi- 
ciently account  for  this ; and  it  is  this  limitation  along  the  line 
of  legitimate  affection  that  is  to  blame  for  a wide  range  of 
popular  literature  which  cannot  be  discussed  with  propriety. 
Love  between  man  and  woman  is  a thing  never  spoken  of  among 
respectable  Koreans. 

Many  tales  are  based  upon  the  passion  for  revenge.  With- 
out doubt  the  prevalence  of  this  type  results  from  a state  of 
society  in  which  even-handed  and  blindfold  justice  finds  no  place; 
where  the  principle,  “ to  the  victor  belongs  the  spoils,”  applies 
equally  in  the  political,  industrial  and  social  life.  It  is  a condi- 
tion in  which  “ pull  ” in  its  most  sordid  sense  is  the  main  asset 
of  the  politician,  the  merchant  and  even  the  coolie.  Here  the 
passion  for  revenge  has  daily  and  hourly  food  to  feed  upon,  and 
we  see  a clear  reflection  of  it  in  the  folk-tales. 

A woman  has  been  robbed  of  her  ancestral  burial-place  by 
a bad  prefect,  and  she  is  told  by  a fortune-teller  that  she  will 
recover  the  property  as  soon  as  she  is  able  to  make  one  egg 
stand  upon  another  without  falling  off.  One  night,  several 


396 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


years  after  this,  the  King  of  Korea,  masquerading  like  Haroun 
al  Raschid  of  old,  peeped  through  a window  and  saw  an  aged 
woman  trying  to  make  one  egg  stand  upon  another,  but  always 
without  success.  But  even  as  he  looked,  behold ! the  impossible 
was  done.  He  demanded  admittance  and,  after  he  had  heard 
the  story,  gave  the  woman  ample  revenge. 

A young  girl  whose  father  and  brother  have  been  wrongfully 
done  to  death  by  the  Prime  IMinister  retires  to  a mountain  retreat, 
and  practises  the  sword  dance  with  the  purpose  of  becoming  so 
proficient  that  she  will  be  called  upon  to  dance  before  the  court 
and  thus  will  secure  an  opportunity  to  kill  the  Prime  Minister’s 
son.  Meanwhile  that  son  has  been  disowned  by  the  Prime 
Minister  and  wanders  away  among  the  mountains,  where  he  acci- 
dentally meets  the  girl  and  persuades  her  to  marry  him,  prom- 
ising to  let  her  go  when  her  destiny  calls.  The  boy  has  been  told 
by  a fortune-teller  that  he  will  die  on  his  eighteenth  birthday. 
Neither  of  them  tells  the  other  what  is  in  store,  and  the  girl  never 
dreams  that  she  has  married  the  man  that  she  must  kill  if  she  is 
to  keep  her  oath.  It  would  take  too  long  to  unravel  the  plot,  but 
the  reader  can  see  that  all  sorts  of  complications  are  possible. 

Korea  has  also  its  stories  of  detectives  and  their  wiles.  The 
custom  of  sending  government  detectives  to  the  country  to  spy 
upon  governors  and  prefects  and  to  right  the  wrongs  of  the 
people  forms  an  easy  hook  upon  which  to  hang  many  an  inter- 
esting tale.  These  are  crude  compared  with  the  complicated 
plots  of  the  West,  and  yet  now  and  again  situations  occur  that 
would  do  credit  to  Sherlock  Holmes  himself.  In  the  human 
heart  there  is  a passionate  love  of  justice.  In  the  end  the  right 
must  prevail.  Koreans  evidently  think  so,  for  though  there  are 
tragedies  enough  in  actual  life  there  are  none  in  Korean  fiction. 
Things  come  out  right  in  the  end.  The  Korean  may  be  much 
of  a fatalist,  but  he  is  not  a pessimist.  His  fatalism  is  of  that 
cheerful  type  that  leads  him  to  take  things  as  they  come.  -M^e 
may  rightly  say  that  the  comic  muse  fills  the  whole  stage  of 
Korean  drama.  It  is  the  villain  only  that  gets  killed  off. 


FOLK-LORE 


397 


This  craving  for  justice  amounts  to  a passion;  perhaps  on 
the  principle  that  things  that  are  least  accessible  are  the  most 
desired.  This  feeling  is  expressed  in  a multitude  of  stories  in 
which  justice,  long  delayed,  has  at  last  been  done.  The  Korean 
story-teller  has  the  same  penchant  for  getting  the  hero  into  hot 
water  that  the  Western  novelist  has,  but  the  Korean  always  gets 
his  hero  out,  which  is  more  than  can  be  said  for  our  more  real- 
istic style,  in  which  the  hero  is  often  left  suspended  over  the 
coals. 

Stories  based  upon  the  passion  for  fame  generally  take  a 
literary  turn.  They  cluster  about  the  great  national  examina- 
tions. The  enormous  influence  that  these  examinations  have 
exercised  on  the  life  of  the  Korean  is  shadowed  forth  in  count- 
less stories  relating  to  the  open  strife  of  the  competitors,  their 
attempts  to  cheat  or  to  bribe  the  examiners,  to  substitute  spu- 
rious manuscripts,  to  forge  names,  if  by  any  means  whatever  they 
may  arrive  at  the  Mecca  of  official  position.  And  right  here 
appears  the  relative  status  of  literary  and  military  life.  The 
literary  man  is  distinctly  above  the  military.  No  fame  is  suffi- 
cient that  rests  merely  upon  military  success.  There  are  a very 
few  exceptions.  All  Korean  Action  goes  to  show  that  military 
glory  is  thrust  upon  a man,  while  it  is  only  literary  fame  that  he 
eagerly  seeks. 

Avarice  is  also  one  of  the  chords  that  are  struck  in  Korean 
tales,  but  it  is  usually  only  as  a secondary  theme.  Rarely  is  a 
story  devoted  exclusively  or  even  mainly  to  the  illustration  of 
this  passion.  The  Koreans  are  too  happy-go-lucky,  and  they 
have  too  great  a contempt  for  niggardliness  to  make  the  sordid 
acquisitive  faculty  a pleasing  theme  in  fiction.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  tales  of  generosity  and  self-sacrifice,  of  prodigal  and 
even  reprehensible  bounty,  are  common  enough,  for  they  fit  the 
spirit  of  the  people  and  go  hand  in  hand  with  their  optimism. 

A lad  goes  forth  to  seek  his  fortune.  Coming  to  a village, 
he  meets  another  boy  who  is  grieving  because  he  has  no  money 
with  which  to  bury  a parent.  Our  hero  gives  the  unknown  lad 


398 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


every  cent  he  has,  and  then  fares  on,  a beggar.  Of  how  he 
tramps  up  and  down  the  country,  and  finally  comes  to  the  capital 
and  becomes  a general,  of  how  the  enemy  have  in  their  ranks  a 
veritable  Goliath,  of  how  our  hero  goes  and  challenges  him  only 
to  find  that  it  is  the  very  person  whom  he  had  befriended,  and 
how  a happy  peace  is  consummated,  — all  this  forms  the  kind 
of  story  that  the  boys  and  girls  of  Korea  can  listen  to  by  the 
hour  and  still  wish  for  more. 

The  peculiar  customs  of  the  country  are  enshrined  in  the  folk- 
lore. The  unique  stone-fight ; the  tug-of-war ; the  detestable 
widow-stealing  and  the  still  more  horrible  custom  called  posain, 
which  is  veritable  murder,  committed  for  the  purpose  of  fore- 
stalling the  predictions  of  the  fortune-teller  that  the  bride  will 
soon  become  a widow;  the  wiles  of  the  ajiins,  or  hangers-on  at 
country  prefectures,  who  are  looked  upon  much  as  Judean  pub- 
licans were,  — all  these  themes  and  many  more,  based  upon 
national  customs  and  traits,  swell  the  volume  of  Korean  folk-lore. 

It  is  natural  that  a land  as  old  as  this  should  be  filled  with 
relics  of  other  days,  and  that  they  should  be  surrounded  with 
a halo  of  popular  veneration.  Even  though  many  of  these  relics 
are  now  lost,  like  the  Holy  Grail,  yet  the  stories  remain.  There 
was  the  golden  yardstick  of  Silla,  and  the  pair  of  jade  flutes 
that  refused  to  sound  if  taken  away  from  the  town  of  Kyong-ju. 
There  was  the  magic  stone  in  which  one  could  look  and  discover 
the  nature  of  any  disease.  There  was  the  magic  robe  which 
would  render  its  wearer  invisible,  and  the  King’s  stone,  from 
which  the  ashes  of  cremated  sovereigns  of  Silla  were  cast  into 
the  Japan  Sea.  Stories  cluster  about  the  dolmens  and  cromlechs 
that  are  found  all  over  Korea,  but  whose  origin  no  one  seems  to 
know. 

Among  the  miscellaneous  tales  are  those  which  tell  of  the 
introductions  of  A'arious  things  into  Korea,  or  their  invention. 
St.  Patrick  drove  the  snakes  out  of  Ireland,  but  Prince  Yunsan 
introduced  them  into  Korea.  He  wanted  a few  to  keep  under  his 
bed,  but  as  there  were  none  in  Korea  he  sent  to  India  and  secured 


FOLK-LORE 


399 


a cargo  of  them.  As  they  were  being  unloaded,  some  escaped 
into  woods,  and  ever  since  that  time  Korea  has  had  her  ophidians 
like  other  lands. 

The  sckntific  value  of  a study  of  folk-lore  is  the  opportunity 
it  affords  for  comparison.  We  want  to  know  what  are  the  affin- 
ities of  Korean  folk-lore  in  order  to  establish  its  ethnological 
relationships.  Such  comparison  seems  to  be  possible  when  we 
note  that  in  Korea  we  have  stories  that  are  almost  the  exact 
counterpart  of  that  of  Cinderella,  The  Forty  Thieves,  Brer 
Rabbit,  Haroun  al  Raschid,  Jonah  and  the  Whale,  Red  Riding 
Hood,  Aladdin’s  Lamp,  Sinbad  the  Sailor  and  many  another 
type  familiar  to  the  scientific  folk-lorist  of  the  West. 

PROVERBS 

In  spite  of  the  lack  of  a literature  that  is  largely  accessible 
to  the  common  classes,  the  people  have  developed  a keenness  of 
insight  and  a terseness  of  expression  that  is  surprising.  The 
lack  of  books  has  resulted  in  a refinement  of  the  art  of  story- 
telling, and  this  in  turn  has  brought  out  a large  volume  of  terse 
and  witty  sayings  which  correspond  to  our  saws  and  proverbs. 
The  Koreans  use  these  much  more  frequently  than  we  do,  and  it 
adds  a spice  to  their  talk  that  is  often  lacking  in  ours. 

Where  we  would  use  the  very  humdrum  formula  “ Make 
assurance  doubly  sure,”  they  would  sa}^  “ Even  though  the  crab 
is  boiled,  you  must  pull  its  legs  off  first  and  eat  them.”  There 
is  a whole  sermon  in  the  proverb,  “ A finger  prick  will  demand 
attention,  though  the  worms  be  eating  the  heart  unknown.”  The 
value  of  personal  observation  is  illustrated  by  the  saying,  “ If 
you  want  to  know  how  deep  the  river  is,  wade  in  and  see.”  “ The 
blind  man  stole  his  own  hen  and  ate  it  ” is  a finely  ironical  way 
of  saying  that  the  covetous  man  will  overreach  himself.  Our 
proverb,  “ Lock  the  barn-door  after  the  horse  has  been  stolen,” 
is  expressed  equally  well  in  the  Korean,  “ Fill  out  the  prescrip- 
tion after  the  friends  of  the  sick  man  have  put  on  mourning.” 


400 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


“ There  cannot  be  a deep  valley  without  there  being  a hi^h  moun- 
tain ” means  that  you  cannot  get  something  for  nothing.  The 
Koreans  better  our  “ Every  man’s  goose  is  a gander  ” by  saying, 
“ Even  the  hedgehog  says  her  young  are  smooth.”  “ Making  a 
mountain  of  a mole-hill”  means  to  the  Korean,  “Killing  a bullock 
for  a feast  when  a hen  would  have  sufficed.”  A frequently 
observed  trait  in  human  nature  is  touched  upon  in  the  saying, 
“ The  man  who  had  his  face  slapped  in  Tongjagi  waits  till  he 
gets  to  Subingo  before  he  makes  faces  at  his  insulter  ” ; in  other 
words,  he  puts  some  space  between  before  answering.  We  say 
that  a man  must  lie  upon  a bed  as  he  makes  it,  and  in  the  same 
way  the  Korean  says  that  “ The  man  wFo  eats  the  salt  must 
drink  the  water.”  To  “ build  a house  beside  the  main  road  ” is 
a rather  subtle  way  of  saying  that  “ too  many  cooks  spoil  the 
broth,”  for  it  means  that  everyone  who  passes  along  will  criticise 
and  say,  “ Why  don’t  you  make  this  part  so  and  that  part  thus?  ” 
and  in  this  way  the  builder  will  at  last  find  that  he  has  made  a 
botch  of  the  whole  job.  We  have  an  expressive  proverb,  “ Jump 
from  the  frying-pan  into  the  fire,”  but  the  Korean  is  abreast  of 
us  with  his  “ Cut  off  a wart  and  make  a tumor.”  “ What  looked 
like  blossoms  on  the  dead  tree  turned  out  to  be  only  the  white 
mould  of  decay  ” conveys  the  same  idea  as  our  reference  to  a 
mirage.  “ You  cannot  sit  in  the  valley  and  see  the  new  moon 
set  ” means  that  if  we  would  get  the  best  things  we  must  make 
an  effort.  Insincerity  is  epitomised  in  the  trenchant  words, 
“ Honey  on  the  lips,  but  a sword  in  the  heart.”  It  shows  a keen 
insight  into  human  nature  to  evolve  the  proverb,  “ Never  beg 
from  a man  who  has  once  been  a beggar  himself.”  How  often 
do  fashion’s  votaries  in  every  land  illustrate  the  saying,  “ He 
went  and  caught  the  dropsy  out  of  envy  for  the  fat  man  ” ! The 
Koreans  have  gotten  rather  the  better  of  our  proverb,  “ The  pot 
called  the  kettle  black  ” by  saying,  “ The  aspen  blamed  the  pine 
for  rustling  so  loudly  in  the  wind,”  when  everyone  knows  that 
the  least  breath  of  air  will  set  the  aspen  leaves  to  quivering.  This 
proverb  contains  a distinctly  poetic  touch  which  is  quite  lack- 


FOLK-LORE 


401 


ing  in  our  culinary  metaphor.  How  true  it  is  the  world  over 
that  “ Where  there  are  no  tigers,  wild-cats  will  be  very  self- 
important.”  This  illustrates  the  man  who  is  clothed  with  a little 
brief  authority,  or,  in  part,  the  fact  that  “ When  the  cat ’s  away, 
the  mice  will  play.”  The  idea  that  we  try  to  convey  in  the  classical 
allusion  to  “ the  Greek  calends  ” the  Korean  expresses  in  the 
more  homely  way,  “ Like  blood  in  a bird’s  foot.”  The  universal 
desire  to  escape  responsibility  is  shadowed  forth  in  the  proverb, 
“ The  cook  blames  the  table  because  he  cannot  pile  the  food 
high.”  The  skill  of  a Korean  cook  is  proven  by  his  ability  to 
make  a pyramid  of  cakes  or  sweetmeats  two  or  three  times  as 
high  as  the  diameter  of  the  plate.  If  he  fails,  he  will  say  that 
the  plate  is  crooked.  “ Even  beggars  sometimes  feast  their 
friends  ” corresponds  to  our  “ Every  dog  has  his  day.”  Exces- 
sive caution  is  illustrated  by  the  hyperbole,  “ He  would  not  walk 
beneath  the  city  wall  with  a load  of  rotten  eggs.”  The  extremely 
small  value  of  the  load  and  the  extremely  small  liability  of  the 
wall  falling  and  crushing  them  show  the  measure  of  the  man’s 
timidity.  We  sometimes  enumerate  our  barnyard  fowl  before 
their  incubation,  and  in  the  same  way  the  Korean  says  that  some 
people  “ Make  the  baby-clothes  before  the  wedding.”  It  is  a 
profound  truth  that  has  many  close  applications  that  “ The  horse 
will  ^.  tripped  up  if  you  tether  it  with  too  long  a rope.”  Many 
a rich  man’s  son  has  proved  this  to  be  true,  not  in  Korea  only. 
We  say  truly  that  “ A scalded  cat  fears  the  fire,”  and  the  Korean 
is  just  as  near  the  truth  when  he  affirms  that  “ A man  that  has 
once  been  frightened  by  a tortoise  will  jump  every  time  he  sees 
a kettle  cover.”  One  of  the  most  expressive  of  Korean  proverbs 
characterises  the  fickle  man  as  “ The  character  wul  written  on 
chamois  skin.”  Now  this  character  wni  is  I — I ; but  if  you  write 
it  on  chamois  skin  and  then  stretch  the  skin  vertically,  it  will 
become  Q,  which  is  the  character  il,  an  entirely  different  thing. 
It  reminds  us  of  Polonius  and  the  cloud  which  looked  now  like 
a camel,  now  like  a weasel  and  anon  like  a whale. 

These  are  only  a very  few  of  the  commoner  proverbs  that 


402 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


are  used  as  household  words.  The  following  might  be  added  to 
show  how  the  Koreans  have  picked  out  for  such  generalisation 
those  qualities  of  the  heart  which  are  the  universal  property  of 
the  race. 

“ He  ate  so  fast  that  he  choked.” 

“ The  flower  that  blooms  in  the  morning  is  withered  by 
noon.” 

“ You  can  recover  an  arrow  shot,  but  not  a word  spoken.” 

“ It  is  easy  to  hurt  yourself  with  a sharp-cornered  stone.” 

“ To  make  a mountain  you  must  carry  every  load  of  earth.” 

“ If  you  go  across-lots,  you  will  fall  in  with  thieves.” 

“ If  the  carpenter  stretches  his  marking-cord  tight,  he  will  be 
able  to  make  a straight  line.” 

“ If  you  use  good  enough  bait,  the  fish  will  bite,  though  it 
kill.” 

“ It  is  foolish  to  mourn  over  a broken  vase.” 

“ You  can  mend  now  with  a trowel  what  it  will  take  a spade 
to  mend  to-morrow.” 

“ You  cannot  expect  to  lift  a heavy  stone  without  getting  red 
in  the  face.” 

“ He  pours  instruction  into  a cow’s  ear.” 

“ All  roads  lead  to  Seoul.” 


CHAPTER  XXX 


RELIGION  AND  SUPERSTITION 

Before  beginning  the  discussion  of  Korea’s  religions 
we  must  define  the  term.  This  will  seem  strange  to 
I a Western  reader,  who  knows  well  enough  what  a 
religion  is;  but  with  these  Eastern  people  it  is  ex- 
tremely difficult  to  tell  where  religion  leaves  off  and  mere  super- 
stition begins.  I think  it  will  be  better  to  take  the  word  in  its 
broadest  sense,  and  consider  religion  to  include  every  relation 
which  men  hold,  or  fancy  that  they  hold,  to  superhuman,  infra- 
human or,  more  broadly  still,  extra-human  phenomena.  And 
we  must  even  supplement  this  by  saying  that  in  the  category  of 
extra-human  we  include  the  spirits  of  human  beings  that  have 
died.  Thus  defined,  we  shall  see  that  the  religions  of  Korea 
form  a very  intricate  study.  In  no  department  of  Korean  life 
is  the  antiquity  of  their  civilisation  so  clearly  demonstrated  as 
in  the  mosaic  of  religious  beliefs  that  are  held,  not  only  by  dif- 
ferent individuals  but  by  any  single  individual.  We  have  no 
choice  but  to  deal  with  these  separately,  but  the  reader  must 
ever  bear  in  mind  that  in  every  Korean  mind  there  is  a jumble 
of  the  whole;  that  there  is  no  antagonism  between  the  different 
cults,  however  they  may  logically  refute  each  other,  but  that 
they  have  all  been  shaken  down  together  through  the  centuries 
until  they  form  a sort  of  religious  composite,  from  which  each 
man  selects  his  favourite  ingredients  without  ever  ignoring  the 
rest.  Nor  need  any  man  hold  exclusively  to  any  one  phase  of 
this  composite  religion.  In  one  frame  of  mind  he  may  lean 
toward  the  Buddhistic  element  and  at  another  time  he  may 
revert  to  his  ancestral  fetichism.  As  a general  thing,  we  may 
say  that  the  all-round  Korean  will  be  a Confucianist  when  in- 


404 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


society,  a Buddhist  when  he  philosophises  and  a spirit-worshipper 
when  he  is  in  trouble.  Now,  if  you  want  to  know  what  a man’s 
religion  is,  you  must  watch  him  when  he  is  in  trouble.  Then 
his  genuine  religion  will  come  out,  if  he  has  any.  It  is  for  this 
reason  that  I conclude  that  the  underlying  religion  of  the  Korean, 
the  foundation  upon  which  all  else  is  mere  superstructure,  is  his 
original  spirit-worship.  In  this  term  are  included  animism,  sha- 
manism, fetichism  and  nature-worship  generally. 

Buddhism  was  introduced  into  Korea  in  the  early  centuries 
of  our  era,  and  Confucianism  followed  soon  after.  The  former 
was  too  mystical  to  appeal  to  the  people  in  its  more  philosophic 
aspects,  and,  as  it  came  in  as  a fashionable  state  religion,  its 
spectacular  character  was  its  chief  recommendation.  Confu- 
cianism, on  the  other  hand,  was  too  cold  and  materialistic  to 
appeal  to  the  emotional  side  of  his  nature,  and  so  became  simply 
a political  system,  the  moral  elements  of  which  never  found  any 
considerable  following  among  the  masses.  But  both  these  sys- 
tems eventually  blended  with  the  original  spirit-worship  in  such 
a way  as  to  form  a composite  religion.  Strange  to  say,  the 
purest  religious  notion  which  the  Korean  to-day  possesses  is  the 
belief  in  Hananim,  a being  entirely  unconnected  with  either  of 
the  imported  cults  and  as  far  removed  from  the  crude  nature- 
worship.  This  word  Hananim  is  compounded  of  the  words 
“ heaven  ” (sky)  and  “ master,”  and  is  the  pure  Korean  counter- 
part of  the  Chinese  word  “ Lord  of  Heaven.”  The  Koreans  all 
consider  this  being  to  be  the  Supreme  Ruler  of  the  universe.  He 
is  entirely  separated  from  and  outside  the  circle  of  the  various 
spirits  and  demons  that  infest  all  nature.  Considered  from  this 
standpoint,  the  Koreans  are  strictly  monotheists,  and  the  attri- 
butes and  powers  ascribed  to  this  being  are  in  such  consonance 
with  those  of  Jehovah  that  the  foreigpi  missionaries  (Protestant) 
have  almost  universally  accepted  the  term  for  use  in  teaching 
Christianity.  The  Roman  Catholics  have  adopted  the  term 
Chim-ju,  a pure  Chinese  word  of  the  same  significance,  but 
open  to  the  same  objection,  namely,  that  it  was  used  long  before 


RELIGION  AND  SUPERSTITION 


405 


Christianity  came,  and  may  therefore  be  called  the  name  of  a 
heathen  god.  But  while  in  China  it  has  been  found  that  idols 
exist  bearing  the  name  Chun-ju,  the  Koreans  have  never 
attempted  to  make  any  physical  representation  of  Hananim. 
He  has  never  been  worshipped  by  the  use  of  any  idolatrous  rites, 
and  the  concept  of  him  in  the  Korean  mind  is,  so  far  as  it  goes, 
in  no  way  derogatory  to  the  revealed  character  of  God  himself. 
It  is  a moot  point  whether  the  Koreans  consider  the  physical 
heavens  to  be  the  person  of  this  god.  Some  of  the  more  igno- 
rant ones  will  deny  that  he  is  invisible,  and  point  to  the  heavens 
in  proof  of  their  statement;  but  they  attribute  to  him  a fatherly 
care  of  mankind  in  sending  sunlight  and  shower,  and  a retribu- 
tive power  in  striking  the  wicked  with  lightning  or  other 
disaster.  The  Temple  of  Heaven  to  which  the  Emperor  repairs 
to  pray  in  times  of  famine,  pestilence  or  other  great  calamity 
is  a purely  Chinese  innovation,  and  can  be  said  to  have  only 
such  connection  with  the  Korean  Hananim  as  grows  out  of  a 
common  but  independent  concept  of  Divinity  in  the  two  coun- 
tries. As  a rule,  the  people  do  not  worship  Hananim.  He  is 
appealed  to  by  the  Emperor  only,  as  we  have  just  said,  and  this 
in  itself  would  seem  to  indicate  that  the  Koreans  received  the 
idea  of  this  being  from  China.  One  would  be  rash  to  dogmatise 
here,  but  it  is  our  conviction  that  it  was  indigenous  to  Korea 
as  well  as  to  China. 

The  foregoing  coincides  with  the  Confucian  element  in 
Korean  religion,  so  far  as  Confucianism  postulates  a personal 
Supreme  Being,  but  on  the  Buddhist  side  there  are  countless 
gods,  the  one  commonest  to  the  Korean  being  Ok-wang  Sang-je, 
or  Jade  King  Supreme  Ruler.  The  various  “ uses  ” of  the 
Buddhist  deities  will  appear  in  connection  with  our  remarks 
on  fortune-telling. 

We  must  turn  now  to  what  we  may  call  the  practical  reli- 
gion of  the  Koreans,  the  belief  in  a countless  number  of  spirits 
which  definitely  affect  the  every-day  life  of  the  individual.  The 
higher  deities  are  reserved  for  special  festivals,  but  these  others 


4o6 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


are  daily  in  evidence  and  the  ordinary  Korean  has  them  ever 
in  mind.  Here  it  is  easy  to  exaggerate,  for  there  are  thousands 
of  Koreans  who  pay  no  attention  whatever  to  any  kind  of  a 
deity  or  power.  They  are  morally  averse  to  any  restriction  upon 
their  own  passions,  and  they  are  too  intelligent  to  believe  that 
their  welfare  is  dependent  upon  the  propitiation  of  any  spirits, 
whether  such  exist  or  not.  They  may  acknowledge  the  fact,  but 
will  not  abide  by  the  logical  inference.  There  are  very  many 
Koreans,  however,  who  not  only  believe  in  the  existence  of  such 
spirits,  but  are  anxious  to  propitiate  them.  It  is  safe  to  say  that 
an  overwhelming  majority  of  these  are  women,  whose  compara- 
tive lack  of  education  makes  them  highly  susceptible  to  super- 
stition. There  are  also  many  men  who  in  ordinary  life  would 
laugh  the  imps  to  scorn,  and  yet  when  laid  upon  a bed  of  sick- 
ness or  subjected  to  some  other  painful  casualty  are  willing 
enough  to  compound  for  their  previous  scepticism  by  the  pay- 
ment of  large  bribes  to  these  same  imps.  It  comes  out,  as  we 
ha\'e  said,  in  times  of  trouble.  Korean  folk-tales  frequently  ha\'e 
to  deal  with  a situation  where  a gentleman  is  ill,  but  will  have 
nothing  to  do  with  the  spirits.  His  wife,  however,  holds  the 
opposite  opinion,  and,  unknown  to  her  lord,  smuggles  in  a uniii- 
(hriig,  or  pansu,  to  exorcise  the  demon  of  disease. 

AT  have  already  pointed  out  the  fact  that,  as  a rule,  women 
are  the  best  supporters  of  Buddhism,  o\A  ing  to  the  very  inferior 
position  which  Confucianism  accords  them.  The  latter  cult  is 
the  avowed  enemy  of  the  belief  in  goblins  and  imps,  but  Bud- 
dhism has  become  so  mixed  up  with  them  that  the  Korean 
Avoman  cannot  hold  to  the  one  without  embracing  tbe  other. 
Host  Korean  gentlemen  will  scoff  at  the  idea  that  the  spirits 
have  any  control  o\er  human  destiny,  but  they  put  nothing  in 
the  way  of  their  wives’  adhesion  to  the  lower  cult. 

There  are  two  orders  of  spirits,  — those  which  have  an  un- 
known but  extra-human  origin  and  those  which  represent  the 
souls  of  the  deceased.  The  various  eh  es  that  haunt  the  spring, 
the  rock,  the  tree,  the  cave  or  the  river  are  nature-gods,  pure 


RELIGION  AND  SUPERSTITION 


407 


and  simple,  and  have  little  to  do  with  human  destiny,  except  as 
they  are  sacrificed  to  and  asked  to  give  good  luck.  They  repre- 
sent the  good  fairies  and  are  not  propitiated,  but  simply  asked 
to  give  blessing  or  help.  The  spirits  of  disease  and  disaster  are 
commonly  considered  nature-gods  as  well,  and  not  of  human 
origin.  They  rec[uire  to  be  propitiated  or  else  exorcised,  which 
ceremony  it  is  the  office  of  the  mudang  or  pansu  to  perform. 
These  spirits  all  go  under  the  name  kzidsin  or  kzvccsin.  But 
there  is  another  class,  called  tokgahi,  which  correspond  to  the 
malignant  imps  of  our  own  folk-lore.  They  are  always  up  to 
pranks,  and  in  mischief  they  find  their  greatest  delight.  They 
fly  about  the  kitchen  and  knock  over  the  kettles  and  pans ; they 
.seize  the  goodman  by  the  top-knot  and  cut  it  off  and  fly  away; 
they  make  the  kettle  cover  fall  into  the  kettle.  All  these  and  a 
long  list  of  other  tricks  they  play  about  the  house.  They  like 
company,  and  will  not  go  away  and  live  in  a desert  place  by 
themselves.  If  a miser  has  buried  some  money,  they  may  watch 
the  place  and  haunt  it,  so  that  no  one  else  will  dare  to  live  there, 
though  the  imps  themselves  can  get  no  good  from  the  money. 
But  the  most  malignant  spirits  of  all  are  the  disembodied  souls 
of  those  men  who  have  met  a violent  death  or  who  ha^'e  been 
grievously  wronged  and  have  died  without  obtaining  revenge. 
Ordinarily  these  are  supposed  to  have  been  good  people  while 
they  were  living,  and  their  present  deplorable  state  is  not  a 
punishment  for  past  misdeeds,  but  they  are  in  somewhat  the 
same  condition  that  the  ancient  Greek  thought  the  soul  of  the 
unburied  was  in.  There  is  something  that  must  be  done  before 
the  spirit  can  get  rest ; it  must  be  “ laid.”  The  spirit  seems  to 
think  that  it  must  vex  and  trouble  people  until  they  effect  this. 
There  are  thousands  of  spirits  who  are  just  waiting  for  some- 
one to  do  them  an  injury,  so  that  they  may  have  an  opportunity 
to  play  their  pranks  upon  him.  The  person  who  succeeds  in 
steering  clear  of  all  these  traps  and  pitfalls  cannot  become  the 
object  of  their  persecution. 

It  is  important  to  note  that  while  these  shadowy  beings  have 


4o8 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


some  powers  that  are  distinctly  superhuman,  in  other  points  they 
are  less  than  human.  Almost  invariably,  in  the  Korean  story, 
the  fiend  is  thwarted  by  the  word  of  a just  man.  Him  they 
not  only  fear,  but  must  obey.  But  we  must  pause  and  give  a 
few  special  names  and  characteristics  of  the  Korean  gods,  begin- 
ning with  those  of  the  highest  grade. 

Besides  Hananim,  who  is  quite  separate  and  remote  from 
all  others,  even  as  Allah  was  distinct  from  the  gnomes  and 
naiads  of  the  Arabian  Nights,  the  Koreans  believe  in  the  Five 
Point  Generals.  These  are  supposed  to  rule  the  five  divisions 
of  the  visible  firmament,  — North,  East,  South,  West  and  Centre. 
It  is  to  these  that  the  pansus,  or  blind  exorcists,  pray  and  offer 
sacrifice  in  order  to  gain  the  upper  hand  of  evil  spirits.  Each  of 
these  five  great  gods  has  a host  of  lieutenants,  nearly  one  hun- 
dred thousand  in  all,  and  it  is  to  these  that  the  pansii  looks  for 
active  help.  These  five  generals  are  frequently  taken  as  village 
gods,  and  the  curiously  carved  posts  which  are  so  often  found 
at  the  entrance  of  a Korean  country  town,  and  which  have 
erroneously  been  called  guide-posts,  are  representations  of  these 
gods,  which  stand  as  guardians  against  the  entrance  of  wicked 
spirits. 

Then  come  the  earth  spirits,  the  ones  which  make  the  Koreans 
so  reluctant  to  dig  in  the  earth  for  minerals.  They  think  the 
spirits  will  consider  themselves  robbed  and  so  exact  a penalty. 
It  may  be  that  it  is  for  this  reason  that  miners  are  looked  down 
upon  as  practical  outcasts  by  the  people.  These  spirits  must  be 
consulted  every  time  a grave  is  to  be  dug,  for  if  a mistake  should 
be  made  the  dead  man’s  descendants  might  wake  up  some  morn- 
ing to  find  that  the  grave  is  empty  and  the  body  has  been  spirited 
away,  to  their  everlasting  disgrace.  Houses  must  be  built  only 
on  spots  where  the  spirits  allow,  and  more  than  one  house  has 
had  to  be  pulled  down  and  erected  on  some  other  site  because 
of  the  terrible  misfortunes  the  imps  have  inflicted  and  are  ready 
to  inflict  because  their  toes  have  been  trodden  upon. 

Often  the  traveller  will  come  across  a heap  of  small  stones 


RELIGION  AND  SUPERSTITION 


409 


beside  the  road  and  a stunted  tree  on  which  are  hung  rags,  locks 
of  hair,  strips  of  coloured  cloth,  pieces  of  money  and  a great 
variety  of  useless  articles.  Such  a place  may  be  found  in  the 
plains,  but  it  is  much  more  likely  to  be  near  the  top  of  a pass 
between  two  valleys.  These  sacred  places  are  not  dedicated  to 
any  particular  spirit,  but  to  any  or  all  the  local  deities.  The 
traveller  picks  up  a stone  and  throws  it  on  the  pile.  This  is 
his  prayer  for  success  in  his  journey.  If  he  has  reason  to  fear 
that  the  “ good-fortune  snake  ” is  not  propitious,  he  will  spit  on 
the  stone  pile.  A man  who  is  going  to  the  neighbouring  market 
with  his  bundle  of  wares  to  sell  may  stop  and  tie  a one-cash 
piece  to  the  branch  of  the  tree  “ just  for  luck.”  It  is  an  offering 
to  the  spirit,  and  is  a request  for  financial  success.  A woman 
from  the  village  below  may  come  up  the  hill  with  a bowl  of  rice 
and  a little  honey  and  set  the  food  down  on  a stone  and  shuffle 
her  hands  together,  bending  low  the  while.  She  is  asking  that 
her  son  come  home  betimes  from  his  fishing  trip,  or  that  her 
child  may  recover  speedily  from  the  disease  which  has  seized 
upon  it.  A bride  may  cut  off  a shred  of  her  skirt  and  tie  it  to 
the  tree  to  prevent  the  good  spirits  of  her  father’s  house  fol- 
lowing her  to  her  new  abode  and  deserting  the  dwelling  of  her 
parent. 

As  the  name  of  these  spirits  is  legion,  so  the  names  of  the 
different  shrines  where  they  are  worshipped  would  make  a long 
catalogue.  There  is  the  “ Boulder  Hall,”  erected  to  the  spirit 
of  some  particular  rock ; the  “ Buddha’s  Hall,”  a sort  of  cross 
between  Buddhism  and  fetichism;  “Ursa  Major  Hall,”  to  the 
spirit  of  that  constellation;  the  “ Kyung  Hall,”  referring  to  the 
Buddhist  sutras;  the  “Wall  and  Moat  Hall,”  a common  name 
for  the  place  where  there  is  a pile  of  stones  or  a tree  to  tie 
fetiches  to;  the  “Old  Man  Hall,”  in  honour  of  the  Old  Man 
Star,  which  Koreans  believe  can  be  seen  in  the  south  only  by 
the  people  who  live  on  the  island  of  Quelpart ; the  “ Grand- 
mother Hall,”  “ Kingdom  Teacher  Hall,”  “ Dragon  Spirit  Hall  ” 
and  many  others. 


410 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


There  are  also  what  the  Koreans  call  the  mountain  spirits. 
They  are  most  like  our  angels  of  any  of  the  Korean  supernatural 
beings,  but  they  are  almost  always  represented  as  venerable  men 
with  long  white  beards.  They  live  among  the  inaccessible  peaks 
of  the  mountains  and  always  in  a state  of  bliss.  Happy  is  the 
man  who  chances  to  catch  sight  of  one  of  them.  If  a man  lives 
an  exemplary  life,  he  may  become  a sin-sun  and  join  this  happy 
band  among  the  hills,  and  many  are  the  tales  Koreans  tell  of 
the  wonderful  adventures  of  good  boys  among  the  haunts  of 
these  immortals.  One  of  these  is  so  like  the  story  of  Rip  Van 
Winkle  that  we  must  give  it  space. 

Paksuni  was  a wood-gatherer  by  profession,  and  his  wife 
Avas  a termagant.  So  long  as  he  earned  a day’s  wages  he  did 
not  worry,  but  the  woman  was  always  scolding  because  he  did 
not  earn  more,  and  raising  a great  disturbance  whenever  he 
happened  to  miss  a day.  One  morning  he  took  his  jiggy  on  his 
back  and  started  up  the  mountain-side  to  gather  fagots  as  usual. 
It  was  very  warm,  and  he  sat  down  in  the  shade  of  a tree  to 
cool  off.  What  more  natural  than  that  he  should  doze  off,  and 
presently  see  through  sleepy  lids  two  venerable  men  approach, 
one  carrying  a chess-board  and  the  other  the  bag  of  chess-pieces  ? 
They  sat  down  beneath  the  shade  and  began  the  game,  ne\  er 
deigning  a glance  in  his  direction.  He  watched  the  game  as  it 
proceeded  with  absorbing  interest.  It  was  the  very  best  game 
of  chess  he  had  ever  seen  played.  Finally  one  of  the  old  men 
made  a move  and  exclaimed,  “Chang’’  (check).  It  was  the 
first  word  that  had  been  spoken,  and  it  brought  him  to  his  feet. 
The  old  gentlemen  disappeared  like  a flash,  and  left  him  looking 
about  in  vain  for  his  axe  and  jiggy.  The  latter  was  gone,  and 
nothing  of  the  former  remained  but  a rusty  shred  of  iron.  His 
clothes  were  in  rags,  and  his  beard  had  grown  to  his  waist. 
He  tottered  down  the  mountain-side  and  entered  the  village.  It 
all  seemed  changed.  The  faces  looked  unfamiliar.  He  stopped 
a man  and  asked  if  he  could  tell  where  a fellow  named  Paksuni 
lived.  The  man  stared  and  answered  that  Paksuni  had  been 


RELIGION  AND  SUPERSTITION  41 1 

lost  for  thirty  years.  Pie  had  wandered  among  the  hills  and 
had  been  eaten  up  by  tigers.  Just  then  an  old  woman  came 
along  to  get  some  water  from  the  well  and  stopped  to  listen. 
The  bewildered  fellow  announced  that  he  himself  was  Paksuni ; 
whereupon  the  old  woman  dropped  her  water-jar,  seized  the 
tattered  remnant  of  humanity  by  the  top-knot  and  haled  him 
down  the  street,  calling  upon  heaven  to  witness  that  the  lazy 
■rascal  had  left  her  for  thirty  years  to  shift  for  herself,  and  now 
had  the  face  to  come  back  and  show  himself.  This  was  so 
much  dike  old  times  that  Paksuni  was  happy,  knowing  that  after 
all  he  had  not  gone  mad.  Those  who  think  that  chess  is  a slow 
game  will  find  confirmation  of  their  opinion  in  this  tale. 

Besides  all  these  there  are  the  village  gods,  who  watch  over 
special  localities  and  to  whom  the  people  erect  shrines  and  offer 
an  annual  sacrifice.  In  this  every  member  of  the  village  is  inter- 
ested, and  the  cost  of  the  ceremony  is  borne  by  all. 

One  is  fairly  safe  in  conjecturing  that  the  worship  of  the 
dragon  is  a Chinese  innovation.  The  Koreans  are  imaginative 
enough  to  evolve  the  idea  of  a long  chain  of  mountains  being 
the  body  of  an  immense  dragon,  but  this  idea  existed  in  China 
long  before  the  Koreans  could  have  evolved  it.  In  fact,  among 
these  spirit  gods  there  are  some  that  are  identical  with  those 
which  the  Chinese  recognise  and  there  are  others  which  are 
purely  native  to  Korea.  There  has  been  such  a mixture  of  all 
sorts  and  conditions  of  ideas  in  the  peninsula  that  one  must 
speak  with  many  reservations  and  without  the  least  dogmatism. 
We  know  where  Confucianism  and  Buddhism  came  from,  but 
as  for  the  rest  the  only  thing  that  we  knozv  is  that  it  is  here. 
This  dragon  plays  an  important  part  in  the  Korean’s  life,  and  his 
influence  is  always  and  only  good.  We  could  not  begin  to 
describe  the  countless  points  where  this  fabled  beast  comes  in 
contact  with  the  fortunes  of  the  Korean. 

The  question  of  fetiches  is  closely  connected  with  the  fore- 
going. The  belief  in  these  many  spirits  leads  people  to  attempt 
to  localise  them  by  means  of  some  physical  emblem.  They  do 


412 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


not  think  that  the  fetich  is  the  spirit  itself,  but  that  it  fastens 
upon  the  fetich  and  can  always  be  found  there  when  necessity 
demands.  Dr.  George  Heber  Jones  is  an  authority  on  Korean 
fetiches,  and  he  has  given  the  following  as  some  of  the  most  im- 
portant. “ When  a Korean  moves,  he  does  not  take  his  ‘ gods  ' 
with  him,  but  passes  to  the  dominion  of  the  gods  of  the  house  to 
which  he  goes.”  For  this  reason  he  is  very  careful  to  get  an 
exact  list  of  the  latter,  so  that  if  sickness  or  misfortune  comes 
he  may  know  just  whom  he  must  pray  to  in  order  to  get  out 
of  trouble.  Each  house  has  its  Holy  Master.  “ His  fetich  con- 
sists of  blank  sheets  of  paper  and  a small  bag  of  rice,  which  are 
hung  upon  the  ridge-beam  of  the  principal  room.”  Mdien  a 
new  house  is  erected,  an  elaborate  ceremony  often  takes  place, 
especially  if  the  owner  be  a little  superstitious.  A mitdang  is 
called  in,  and  by  her  occult  arts  she  invites  a Holy  blaster  to 
come  and  abide  under  that  roof  and  take  charge  of  the  entire 
destiny  of  the  inmates,  ward  off  disease  and  protect  them  gener- 
ally. From  that  time  on  no  one  must  ever  step  upon  the  thresh- 
old of  that  house,  but  always  o'S'er  it,  for  this  is  the  neck  of  the 
household  god,  and  to  step  upon  it  would  anger  him  and  make 
him  bring  misfortune  at  once.  “ Ranking  next  to  the  Holy 
blaster  is  the  Lord  of  the  Site.  His  fetich  consists  of  a bundle 
of  straw  set  up  like  a booth,  on  three  sticks.”  He  has  control, 
not  of  the  house,  but  of  the  site  on  which  it  is  built,  and  he  must 
be  kept  in  good  temper,  or  trouble  will  be  brewing. 

The  Koreans  are  wonderful  people  for  depending  upon  luck. 
They  have  consequently  apotheosised  the  idea,  and  every  house 
must  have  its  fetich  to  Good  Luck,  and  it  must  be  worshipped 
with  great  punctuality  twice  a year.  Dr.  Jones  says  very  ap- 
positely : “ The  kindly  favour  of  the  Deity,  bestowed  out  of  pure 
love  and  kindness  upon  his  children,  is  not  known  in  Korea. 
Her  religion  remains  down  on  the  lower  level  of  luck  and  ill- 
luck.  When  all  things  are  going  well,  then  the  spirits  are  be- 
stowing luck  on  the  family ; when  things  go  badl}",  luck  has  been 
withdrawn.”  In  this  connection  the  Koreans  have  various  sorts 


RELIGION  AND  SUPERSTITION 


413 


of  luck-bringers,  just  as  our  American  negroes  carry  rabbits’ 
feet.  In  Korea  there  are  the  Luck-snake,  the  Luck-pig,  the  Luck- 
toad,  the  Luck-weasel  and  the  Luck-man.  There  are  places  in 
the  country  where  people  worship  the  Luck-snake,  and  the  pres- 
ence of  a large  snake  near  a house  is  welcomed  as  a good  sign. 

Each  year,  about  New-Year’s  time,  the  Koreans  make  little 
straw  manikins,  stuff  a few  cash  into  their  bodies  and  then  throw 
them  into  the  streets,  where  small  boys  seize  upon  them  and 
tear  them  to  pieces  for  the  sake  of  the  money.  In  this  way  the 
spirit  of  ill-luck  is  supposed  to  be  dismembered  and  rendered 
innocuous.  Some  people  hang  a hat  and  a coat  at  the  entrance 
of  the  house  as  a fetich  of  the  Door-spirit.  Others  hang  up 
old  shoes,  bunches  of  grass  and  fishes’  heads  as  fetiches  of  their 
various  household  divinities. 

Among  all  the  spirits  of  disease,  that  which  represents  the 
smallpox  is  the  most  dangerous,  and  elaborate  ceremonies  are 
gone  through  to  keep  him  out  or,  if  he  has  already  entered,  to 
get  him  out  again. 

Such  is  a list  of  some  of  the  many  spirits  which  swarm  about 
the  Korean,  keep  him  under  constant  espionage,  and  are  ready 
at  any  moment  to  fall  upon  him  in  wrath.  If  he  goes  among 
the  mountains,  they  are  there;  if  he  goes  into  his  inner  room, 
they  are  there ; if  he  travels  to  the  remotest  corner  of  the  earth, 
they  will  follow  him.  It  remains,  therefore,  to  examine  the  ways 
in  which  he  can  keep  on  good  terms  with  these  figments  of  his 
imagination,  which  are  still  very  real  to  him. 

Korean  society  is  blessed,  or  cursed,  with  two  handicrafts 
whose  aim  and  end  it  is  to  deal  with  these  occult  powers  with 
which  the  Oriental  imagination  peoples  all  space.  The  people 
who  follow  these  vocations  are  called  miidang  and  pansii,  the 
nearest  approach  to  which  in  English  is  “ sorceress  ” and  “ exor- 
cist,” but  they  might  be  broadly  termed  witches  and  wizards. 
The  word  mudang  means  “ deceiving  crowd,”  and  pansu  means 
“ decider  of  destiny.”  The  former  name  is  specially  appro- 
priate. The  mudang  is  always  a woman,  and  is  considered  at 


414 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


the  very  lowest  point  in  the  social  system.  She  is  always  an 
abandoned  character,  though  generally  married.  She  pretends 
to  be  a sort  of  spiritual  medium,  and  by  her  friendship  with  the 
spirits  to  be  able  to  influence  them  as  she  may  wish.  Kija  is 
said  to  have  brought  with  him  from  China  the  art  of  necro- 
mancy. It  is  sure  that  a character  closely  allied  to  that  of  the 
mudang  has  existed  in  China  for  thousands  of  years,  and  if  Kija 
was  an  actual  character,  it  is  more  than  likely  that  he  brought 
this  form  of  incantation.  We  cannot  conclude  that  he  brought 
the  spirit  worship,  but  only  the  peculiar  method  by  which  the 
spirits  might  be  governed.  The  ceremony  performed  by  the 
imidang,  and  without  which  her  services  are  of  no  avail,  is  called 
a kut.  There  are  ten  different  forms  of  service  that  she  ma}' 
perform  by  means  of  this  kut. 

The  service  most  in  demand  is  that  of  driving  out  the  spirit 
of  disease.  But  why  should  spirits  torment  people  in  this  way? 
Well,  there  are  the  “ hungry  ” spirits.  They  come  around  the 
door  when  you  are  eating,  and  if  you  do  not  throw  them  a morsel 
of  food  they  have  a grievance  against  you,  and  so  have  power  to 
lay  you  on  a bed  of  sickness.  Of  two  intimate  friends  one  dies, 
and  his  spirit  tries  to  keep  up  the  intimacy  after  death.  This 
too  will  make  trouble.  If  a man  has  wronged  the  spirits  by  deny- 
ing their  existence,  it  is  sure  to  be  visited  on  his  head.  The  spirit 
that  haunts  rubbish  of  various  kinds  that  had  lain  a long  time 
in  one  place  will  follow  and  injure  the  man  that  disturbs  them. 
If  you  go  to  the  house  of  a person  that  has  just  died,  his  released 
spirit  is  very  likely  to  follow  you  home  and  make  trouble  for 
you.  Such  are  only  a few  of  the  countless  ways  in  which  a man 
may  gain  the  ill-will  of  the  spirits,  and  from  them  we  can  readily 
see  that  it  will  be  often  through  no  actual  fault  of  the  man  but 
only  by  pure  chance. 

Let  us  then  suppose  that  a man  by  some  such  mischance  has 
contracted  a disease.  He  may  not  be  sure  that  it  is  caused  by  a 
spirit,  but  if  he  has  reason  to  suspect  that  such  is  the  case  he  will 
send  to  the  home  of  a iniidaiig^  describing  his  symptoms  and 


RELIGION  AND  SUPERSTITION 


415 


asking  her  what  spirit  it  is  that  is  causing  it.  She  may  reply  by 
naming  some  spirit,  or  she  may  declare  that  she  must  see  the 
patient  first.  After  accepting  a fee  of  two  or  three  dollars,  she 
will  name  a fortunate  day  on  which  to  hold  the  kut,  which  will 
be  either  at  her  own  house  or  at  that  of  the  patient,  according 
as  he  has  means  to  pay.  The  elaborateness  of  her  preparations 
will  also  depend  upon  the  fee.  If  the  trouble  is  caused  by  the 
spirit  of  a dead  relative,  great  care  must  be  taken;  but  if  by  a 
common  spirit,  then  a little  ordinary  food  thrown  into  the  street 
will  generally  suffice  to  cause  its  departure.  The  test  is  by 
throwing  a common  kitchen  knife  out  into  the  road  after  the 
food.  If  it  falls  with  the  blade  pointing  away  from  the  door  the 
spirit  has  gone;  but  if  the  blade  points  back  toward  the  door, 
then  the  spirit  will  require  further  argument  before  leaving. 
When  the  patient  is  a man  of  large  means  the  ceremony  may  be 
performed  at  some  neighbouring  shrine. 

Arriving  at  the  patient's  house,  the  inudang  takes  charge  of 
the  whole  place,  arranges  the  food  and  stations  the  friends  of  the 
sick  man  at  particular  points.  She  is  accompanied  by  an  assist- 
ant, and  when  all  is  ready  the  latter  sits  dowm  and  begins  scraping 
on  a kind  of  basket.  This  is  supposed  to  attract  the  spirit.  The 
inudang  begins  to  dance  about  and  to  call  upon  the  spirit  to  come. 
She  works  herself  up  to  a perfect  frenzy,  and  at  this  point  the 
audience  believes  the  spirit  has  taken  possession  of  her  body. 
Every  word  now  is  that  of  the  spirit,  not  of  the  w’oman.  She 
screams  out  the  name  of  the  spirit  that  has  come,  and  tells  what 
they  must  do  to  cure  the  patient,  which  directions  generally 
include  the  payment  of  an  extra  sum  of  money.  At  last  the  spirit 
promises  to  take  aw'ay  the  disease,  and  then  the  inudang,  after 
a few^  more  frantic  leaps  and  screams  which  betoken  the  leaving 
of  the  spirit,  suddenly  becomes  quiet  and  sho\vs  no  signs  of  her 
previous  excitement.  She  does  not  try  to  make  the  deception 
more  complete  by  pretended  exhaustion  nor  by  falling  dowm  like 
a dead  person.  The  grossness  of  her  employer’s  superstition  ren- 
ders such  finesse  quite  unnecessaiy.  It  is  perhaps  needless  to  add 


4i6 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


that  the  food  that  has  been  provided  for  the  spirit  is  eaten  with 
great  gusto  by  the  miidang  and  the  friends.of  the  sick  man.  The 
result  of  all  this  commotion  and  fuss  upon  the  patient  is  seldom 
very  edifying. 

A second  kind  of  kut  is  performed  after  death.  A person’s 
spirit  will  stay  about  the  house  for  three  days  after  his  demise, 
and  often  much  longer  than  this.  If  the  relatives  have  reason 
to  think  that  the  dead  man  had  something  that  he  wished  to  com- 
municate but  did  not  have  the  opportunity,  they  will  call  a 
mttdang,  for  only  through  her  can  they  establish  intelligent  com- 
munication with  the  spirit.  The  miidang  comes,  arranges  the 
food,  and  becomes  possessed  by  the  spirit,  but  without  any  danc- 
ing and  screaming.  She  is  used  by  the  spirit  to  make  the  desired 
communication,  after  which  the  friends  weep  and  say  good-bye, 
and  the  spirit  leaves.  Then  they  all  fall  to  and  clear  the 
tables. 

Sometimes  another  hut  is  celebrated  after  the  man  is  buried. 
If  the  dead  man  was  supposed  to  have  been  summoned  away  from 
life  by  an  angel  or  messenger  sent  from  one  of  the  great  gods, 
the  mudang  will  be  called  in  to  raise  this  spirit  messenger  and 
ask  it  to  lead  the  dead  man  directly  to  the  realm  of  the  blessed 
and  not  through  any  purgatorial  stage.  At  this  time  they  have 
the  power  to  call  the  dead  man’s  spirit  back  for  a positively  last 
appearance,  and  the  final  adieus  are  said. 

But  even  this  does  not  finish  the  matter.  A month  after  burial 
the  friends  of  the  deceased,  if  they  have  money,  may  hold  a 
monster  kut  at  some  well-known  shrine  in  the  vicinity.  The 
viudang  is  dressed  in  all  her  finery,  and  everything  is  done  to 
make  the  ceremony  impressive.  The  object  is  to  help  the  dead 
man  to  secure  influence  or  to  get  a “ pull  ” with  the  Judge  of 
Hades.  The  dead  man  has  no  money  to  do  it  with,  so  his  friends 
do  it  for  him. 

The  food  is  spread,  and  the  mudang,  all  in  white,  goes  into  a 
trance  after  the  usual  gyrations,  and  the  spirit  of  the  departed 
takes  possession.  He  is  asked  whether  he  has  met  the  grand- 


RELIGION  AND  SUPERSTITION 


417 


parents  or  other  relatives  who  have  been  long  dead,  and  all  sorts 
of  questions  are  propounded.  These  the  miidang  answers  glibly, 
fearing  no  contradiction.  Not  infrequently  the  spirit  will  prom- 
ise to  do  something  that  will  help  those  who  are  still  in  the  land 
of  the  living,  so  it  appears  that  the  benefits  are  mutual.  This 
spirit  is  then  dismissed,  and  the  Judge  of  Hades  is  called  up. 
There  are  ten  judges  on  the  bench  of  this  supreme  court,  but  this 
is  the  Supreme  Judge.  Food  is  placed  before  him,  and  he  is 
implored  to  make  it  easy  for  their  friend  in  the  beyond.  He 
invariably  promises  to  do  so  and  praises  the  food.  After  this 
the  mudang  calls  up  the  special  judge  who  has  charge  of  their 
friend’s  case,  and  he  too  is  properly  “ fixed.”  The  petitioners 
have  no  difficulty  in  securing  his  promise  to  make  the  man’s 
post-mortem  condition  as  bearable  as  possible.  Then  they  call 
up  the  spirit  who  guards  the  household  of  the  man  who  has  died. 
He  is  easily  entreated,  and  promises  to  look  after  the  interests 
of  the  family.  He  may  warn  the  household  of  some  impending 
trouble,  and  give  them  advice  as  to  the  best  way  to  avoid  it. 
When  these  special  spirits  have  all  been  consulted,  any  relative 
who  has  helped  pay  for  the  ceremony  may  call  up  any  of  his 
friends  or  relatives  and  have  a chat  with  them.  It  is  like  an 
afternoon  tea  with  the  dead,  except  that  it  is  generally  prolonged 
far  into  the  night. 

One  of  the  chief  duties  of  the  mudang  is  to  deal  with  the 
Great  Spirit  of  Smallpox.  This  is  the  only  disease  that  enjoys 
the  special  oversight  of  a spirit  all  by  itself,  and  it  shows  that  the 
Koreans  put  this  ailment  in  the  fore-front  of  the  ills  that  flesh 
is  heir  to.  It  is  more  to  be  feared  even  than  cholera,  for,  like 
the  poor,  it  is  ever  with  us.  From  the  fifth  day  after  the  appear- 
ance of  the  disease  no  member  of  the  household  may  comb  his 
hair,  wear  new  clothes,  sweep  the  house,  bring  any  new  goods 
within  the  doors,  cut  wood,  drive  nails,  roast  beans  or  allow  a 
drain  to  become  blocked  up.  Any  of  these  things  would  leave 
the  patient  blind  or  severely  marked.  If  anyone  does  sewing 
in  the  house,  it  will  cause  intolerable  itching  in  the  patient. 


4i8 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


Neither  the  ancestors  nor  the  guardian  spirit  of  the  house  must 
be  sacrificed  to,  for  it  would  displease  the  smallpox  spirit.  The 
inmates  of  the  house  must  eat  clear  rice  without  beans  in  it,  for 
this  would  leave  the  patient  with  a black  face.  No  animal  must 
be  killed,  for  this  would  cause  the  sick  man  to  scratch  his  face 
and  aggravate  the  disease.  No  washing  nor  papering  must  be 
done,  for  this  would  cause  the  nose  of  the  patient  to  be  perma- 
nently stopped  up. 

After  the  ninth  day  all  these  restrictions  are  removed  except- 
ing the  driving  of  nails,  papering  of  walls  and  killing  of  animals. 
The  thirteenth  day  is  the  one  on  which  the  spirit  is  supposed 
to  depart.  A feast  is  set  for  him ; a piece  of  sari  wood  is  made 
to  personate  a horse,  and  a straw  bag  is  put  on  its  back  with  rice 
and  money  inside.  A red  umbrella  and  a multi-coloured  flag 
are  attached,  and  the  whole  is  set  on  the  roof  of  the  house.  This 
horse  is  provided  for  the  departing  spirit  to  ride,  and  must  be 
forthcoming  whether  the  case  has  ended  fatally  or  not.  On  that 
day  the  niudang  comes  and  goes  through  an  elaborate  ceremony, 
in  which  she  petitions  the  spirit  to  deal  kindly  with  the  patient 
and  not  to  leave  him  pock-marked. 

The  “ dragon  spirit  seance  ” demands  a brief  mention. 
Every  river  or  stream,  as  well  as  the  ocean,  is  the  abode  of  a 
dragon  spirit,  and  every  village  on  the  banks  of  a stream  has 
its  periodical  sacrifice  to  this  benignant  power.  Not  only  so. 
l)ut  the  freight-boats  have  their  ceremony,  and  the  feriy-boats. 
fishing-boats  and  war-boats  and  boats  that  carried  the  annual 
envoys  to  China,  — all  have  their  special  forms  of  worship  toward 
the  great  dragon.  The  great  importance  of  this  sacrifice  lies  in 
the  fact  that  the  dragon  has  control  of  the  rainfall,  and  he  must 
be  propitiated  in  order  that  agricultural  pursuits  may  not  be 
endangered.  The  ceremony  is  usually  performed  by  a mudang 
in  a boat,  accompanied  by  as  many  of  the  leading  people  of  the 
village  as  can  crowd  in.  Her  fee  is  about  forty  dollars.  The 
most  interesting  part  of  the  ceremony  is  the  mudang’s  dance, 
which  is  performed  on  the  edge  of  a knife  blade  laid  across  the 


RELIGION  AND  SUPERSTITION 


419. 


mouth  of  a jar  that  is  filled  to  the  brim  with  water.  We  cannot 
affirm  anything  as  to  the  sharpness  of  the  knife,  but  we  presume 
that  the  fee  is  well  earned  even  if  the  dragon  part  of  it  is  purely 
imaginary. 

In  the  case  of  coastwise  vessels,  the  mndang  calls  up  the 
dragon  spirit  and  the  spirits  of  the  men  who  have  drowned,  and 
implores  them  to  make  the  sea  calm  and  the  voyage  successful. 
For  fishing  craft  a single  ceremony  suffices  for  the  whole  fleet. 
The  mndang  confesses  to  the  dragon  that  it  is  rank  trespass  for 
men  to  go  and  catch  his  subjects  to  eat,  but  men  must  live;  she 
begs  him  to  overlook  the  wrong  and  give  the  fishermen  a good 
catch.  The  ferry  is  an  important  institution  in  Korea,  owing 
to  the  lack  of  bridges.  The  boats  are  often  so  crowded  that  they 
sink,  and  the  annual  loss  of  life  from  this  cause  is  considerable. 
At  important  ferries  the  ceremony  is  a very  animated  one.  A 
boat  is  dressed  in  gala  attire,  with  a spar  like  a roof-tree  extend- 
ing its  whole  length.  The  mndang  and  her  accompanying  crowd 
enter  and  push  off  from  the  shore.  Food  is  thrown  into  the  water 
for  the  spirit,  and  as  the  mndang  begins  to  grow  excited  and 
“ possessed  ” she  imitates  the  motions  of  a person  dying  by 
drowning.  She  then  leaps  to  the  roof-tree  and  dances  thereon, 
screaming  at  the  top  of  her  lungs.  After  an  hour  of  such  antics 
they  come  ashore,  and  the  mndang  runs  to  a willow  tree  and 
climbs  to  its  very  top,  wailing  and  “ taking  on  ” shockingly.  She 
says  she  is  a spirit  imprisoned  in  the  dark  water,  and  she  must 
have  one  chance  to  take  a good  look  around.  From  the  top  of 
the  tree  she  has  a “ look  see  ” and  then  comes  down.  All  the 
time  she  has  been  gnashing  her  teeth,  and  howling  as  loudly  as 
her  lungs  will  permit. 

Until  the  year  1894  the  government  sent  an  annual  embassy 
to  Peking,  and  before  it  started  the  attendants  and  underlings 
held  a great  knt.  It  would  have  been  beneath  the  dignity  of  the 
envoy  to  have  anything  to  do  with  such  a superstition,  but  there 
is  e\'ery  reason  to  belie^•e  that  a good  part  of  the  cost  was. 
defrayed  by  him.  Four  or  fi^•e  mn'dangs  were  employed,  and  they 


420 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


besought  the  dragon  spirit  to  treat  the  company  well  and  bring 
them  back  in  safety.  The  ceremony  was  in  the  shape  of  a panto- 
mime, in  which  one  of  the  mudangs  personated  the  envoy  and 
another  the  Minister  of  State. 

Such  are  only  a few  of  the  occasions  upon  which  a miidang’s 
services  are  required.  Korean  folk-lore  teems  with  stories  in 
which  the  nmdang  plays  a leading  part.  We  have  space  for  only 
one.  A nmdang  dreamed  that  the  Great  Spirit  of  Smallpox 
appeared  to  her  and  said  that  he  was  about  to  enter  a certain 
house  in  the  neighbourhood,  and  that  he  had  selected  a certain 
closet  in  the  house  as  his  favourite  place.  Mdien  the  woman 
awoke,  she  hastened  to  the  house  indicated,  and  found  that  it  was 
true.  The  young  son  was  stricken  with  the  disease,  and  con- 
tinually asked  to  be  placed  in  that  closet.  By  this  the  miidang 
knew  that  her  dream  was  a true  one.  As  the  disease  developed, 
the  child  kept  scratching  his  neck,  which  caused  a dangerous 
swelling.  The  uiudang  said,  “ Someone  in  this  house  has  wit- 
nessed the  killing  of  a hen.”  Upon  inquiry  this  was  found  to 
be  true.  Still  the  father  refused  to  allow  the  mudang  to  hold  a 
knt  over  the  child.  At  last  the  boy  began  to  turn  a livid  green 
in  the  face,  the  sure  sign  of  approaching  death.  The  mudang 
said,  “ Search  and  you  will  find  that  someone  has  brought  a 
piece  of  green  cloth  into  the  house.”  This  too  was  found  to  be 
true.  The  father  could  no  longer  refuse  to  let  the  mudang  try 
her  hand,  and  in  the  story  of  course  the  child  recovered. 

It  is  said  that  not  until  some  time  after  the  beginning  of  the 
present  dynasty  was  the  horrible  custom  of  throwing  a young 
virgin  into  the  sea  at  Po-ryung  discontinued.  At  that  place  the 
mudang  held  an  annual  seance  in  order  to  propitiate  the  sea 
dragon  and  secure  plenteous  rains  for  the  rice-crop  and  successful 
voyages  for  the  mariners.  A new  prefect  was  appointed  to  that 
district,  and  as  he  had  no  faith  in  mudangs  he  determined  to  go 
and  witness  the  ceremony  and  put  a stop  to  the  custom,  if  pos- 
sible. Three  mudangs  were  on  hand  and  had  secured  the  maiden 
for  sacrifice.  As  they  led  her  down  to  the  water’s  edge  to  cast 


RELIGION  AND  SUPERSTITION 


421 


her  in,  she  wept  and  screamed  and  struggled.  The  prefect 
stopped  them. 

“ Is  it  necessary  for  you  to  sacrifice  a human  being?  ” 

“ Yes,  it  will  please  the  dragon  and  he  will  give  good  crops.” 

“ How  do  you  know  ? ” 

“ Oh,  we  are  great  friends  with  him  and  know  his  mind.” 

“ Then  I think  it  would  please  him  much  more  if  one  of  you 
were  sacrificed  ” ; and  with  that  he  signalled  to  one  of  his  attend- 
ants, and  had  one  of  the  mudangs  bound  and  thrown  into  the 
water.  The  dragon  showed  no  signs  of  revealing  himself,  so  the 
second  miidang  followed  the  first.  Still  the  spirit  gave  no  sign, 
and  the  third  miidang  went  to  prove  the  theory.  That  was  the 
end  of  the  matter.  The  prefect  memorialised  the  throne  against 
the  whole  tribe  of  mudangs,  and  from  that  time  to  this  they 
have  been  considered  the  lowest  of  the  low. 

The  mudangs  are  not  the  only  people  who  have  infiuence  with 
the  spirits.  The  pansu  is  even  more  conversant  with  their  tricks 
and  better  able  to  overcome  their  evil  propensities.  We  have 
noted  that  the  mudang  is  a sort  of  medium,  and  moves  the  spirits 
through  her  friendship  with  them,  but  the  pansu  is  an  exorcist 
rather  than  a medium.  He  is  the  enemy  of  the  spirits,  and  is 
able  to  drive  them  rather  than  coax  them.  The  profession  of 
the  mudang  is  much  older  than  that  of  pansu,  the  latter  being  the 
product  of  the  past  few  centuries,  while  the  former  have  existed 
from  the  remotest  antiquity. 

As  we  have  said,  the  word  pansu  means  “ decider  of  destiny,” 
and  we  judge  truly  from  this  name  that  the  chief  office  of  this 
blind  fakir  is  to  tell  fortunes.  He  is  frequently  called  upon,  how- 
ever, to  exorcise  evil  spirits.  He  is  looked  upon  as  little  superior 
to  the  mudang,  though  his  sex  protects  him  from  many  aspersions 
that  are  cast  upon  the  character  of  the  mudang.  There  are  a 
few  female  pansus,  but  they  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  spirits, 
and  they  are  as  low  in  the  scale  as  the  mudang.  The  office  of 
pansu  in  Korea,  like  that  of  masseur  in  Japan,  is  confined  to  the 
ranks  of  the  blind,  and  the  prevalence  of  scrofulous  diseases 


422 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


insures  a plentiful  source  from  which  to  recruit  the  ranks  of  the 
profession. 

Koreans  use  the  services  of  a pansii  to  find  out  rvhether  a man 
will  escape  the  punishment  of  a crime;  whether  he  will  receive 
a reward  for  good  conduct ; whether  a certain  piece  of  work  will 
be  successful ; what  will  happen  during  the  day ; what  will  happen 
during  the  month ; what  will  happen  during  the  year ; what  will 
happen  up  to  the  point  of  death;  what  was  the  condition  in  a 
former  state  of  existence ; whether  he  carries  in  his  body  the  seeds 
of  a great  misfortune;  how  to  find  a lost  article  or  person; 
whether  a journey  will  be  prosperous;  what  is  the  condition  of  a 
distant  friend  or  relative;  what  will  be  the  day  of  his  death; 
whether  he  will  become  wealthy;  what  is  the  cause  of  sickness;, 
in  what  direction  he  should  move  when  he  changes  his  residence; 
whether  he  can  repair  his  house  without  suffering  calamity ; 
whether  he  will  draw  a prize  in  a lottery ; whether  he  had  better 
purchase  a certain  slave ; when  a son  will  be  born ; when  he  will 
obtain  official  position;  when  he  will  get  out  of  jail;  whether  a 
son  or  daughter  will  have  a happy  life ; how  a spirit  may  be 
propitiated ; when  one  must  marry  in  order  to  be  happy ; where 
to  find  a good  husband  for  one's  daughter;  whether  a dream  is 
good  or  bad ; whether  it  will  be  safe  to  cut  down  a certain  tree ; 
whether;  he  may  move  a grave  with  safety;  whether  it  will  be 
Avell  for  a woman  to  be  delivered  of  a child  at  her  own  house 
or  whether  she  had  better  go  to  some  other. 

Divination  is  accomplished  in  any  one  of  three  Avays,  — with 
dice-boxes,  pieces  of  money  or  Chinese  characters.  The  first  of 
these  is  the  lowest,  the  second  is  a little  more  respectable,  and  the 
third,  being  performed  with  Chinese  characters,  may  be  adopted 
by  a gentleman  without  incurring  criticism.  iMany  gentlemen 
learn  to  do  their  own  divining  in  a crude  sort  of  way. 

The  dice-box  divination  consists  in  shaking  and  throwing  out 
from  a dice-box  eight  little  metal  rods  about  the  size  of  friction 
matches.  Each  rod  has  a different  number  of  notches  cut  in 
it,  and  as  each  rod  is  put  back  after  the  throw,  it  will  be  seen  that 


RELIGION  AND  SUPERSTITION 


4^3 


in  three  throws,  which  forms  a trial,  there  are  many  possible 
combinations.  The  paiisu  has  learned  a set  formula  for  each 
combination,  and  so  it  is  apparent  that  this  formula  must  be  in  the 
form  of  an  enigma,  for  it  must  answer  any  question  that  the 
client  may  ask.  Let  us  suppose  that  the  man  has  asked  when 
his  friend  will  get  out  of  jail,  and  the  answer  comes : “ If  the  net 
is  old,  the  carp  will  break  through.”  This  he  will  forthwith 
explain  to  mean  that  as  carp  are  always  caught  in  winter  the 
friend  will  languish  in  durance  vile  till  winter  comes.  The  skill 
of  the  pansu  is  exhibited  in  fitting  the  formula  to  the  question  in 
hand.  They  are  a little  more  accommodating  than  the  priests  of 
the  Delphic  Oracle  in  Greece,  where  the  client  had  to  do  the 
guessing  himself. 

The  second  form,  called  “ money  divination,”  is  accomplished 
by  the  use  of  four,  six  or  eight  ancient  Korean  coins.  Those  with 
the  seal  character  on  them  are  the  best,  but  any  will  do,  provided 
they  are  old.  The  diviner  shakes  the  coins  in  his  hand  and  lets 
a certain  number  of  them  drop.  The  combination  which  appears 
tells  him  what  formula  to  apply.  There  are  hundreds  of  ways 
to  manipulate  the  coins,  and  each  pansu  has  his  own  favourite 
way,  just  as  different  cooks  have  their  favourite  recipes  for  pre- 
paring food. 

The  method  of  practising  “ book  divination  ” is  to  ask  the 
questioner  in  what  year,  what  month,  what  day  and  what  hour 
he  was  born.  These  four  dates,  taken  two  and  two,  in  every 
combination  give  four  characters,  and  from  these  the  diviner 
makes  up  a verse  of  poetry.  Then  he  determines  which  character 
best  fits  the  case  of  his  client.  Using  this  as  an  index,  he  looks 
up  the  corresponding  passage  in  his  diviner’s  book,  which  he 
carries  as  faithfully  as  the  surveyor  does  his  table  of  logarithms, 
and  the  passage  which  he  finds  will  be  the  enigma  from  which 
his  client  must  extract  an  answer  to  his  question. 

Another  form  of  book  divination  is  carried  on  by  the  use  of 
the  volume  called  “ Record  of  Previous  Existence.”  This  is 
based  upon  the  fact  that  many  Koreans  believe  the  ills  of  the 


424 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


present  life  are  the  punishments  of  sins  committed  in  a previous 
life,  and  that  present  happiness  is  a reward  for  past  goodness. 
Only  when  in  trouble  will  one  consult  this  kind  of  oracle.  If  a 
woman  is  cursed  with  a drunken  husband  and  is  driven  to  des- 
peration, she  consults  the  pansu,  and  he,  after  looking  up  the 
formula,  tells  her  that  in  a previous  existence  she  was  a bullock- 
driver  and  her  husband  was  the  bullock,  that  she  beat  and  abused 
him  so  cruelly  that  she  was  now  doomed  to  be  ill-treated  by  him  in 
turn.  But  he  tells  her  that  if  she  will  take  a bundle  of  flax-stalks 
and  tie  them  at  seven  places,  as  a corpse  is  tied  for  burial,  and 
place  it  in  the  room  and  hide,  her  husband,  coming  home  drunk, 
will  mistake  the  bundle  for  his  wife  and  beat  it  to  pieces.  This 
will  take  away  his  propensity  to  maltreating  his  wife.  Another 
woman,  who  asked  what  she  should  do  to  insure  the  continued 
loyalty  of  her  son  to  herself,  was  told  that  in  a past  life  she  had 
been  very  kind  to  a starving  dog,  and  that  providence  had  decreed 
that  she  should  come  into  the  world  again  and  that  the  dog  should 
become  her  son.  If  she  continued  to  treat  him  well,  she  would 
have  no  trouble.  A man’s  bullock  was  struck  by  lightning,  and 
he  consulted  a pansu  to  find  why  this  calamity  overtook  him. 
The  seer  told  him  to  go  back  home  and  look  carefully  at  the 
hide  of  the  animal  and  he  would  find  what  an  evil  past  it  had  had. 
The  mystified  farmer  went  and  looked,  and  on  one  of  the  horns 
was  written  in  fine  Chinese  characters  the  legend  “ In  the  days 
of  the  Tang  Dynasty  lived  a Prime  T^Iinister,  Yi  Rim-po.  After 
his  death  he  was  transformed  nine  times  into  a dancing-girl  and 
three  times  into  a bullock,  but  even  so  he  could  not  expiate  the 
crimes  that  he  had  committed ; so  at  last  Heaven  smote  him  with 
a thunderbolt  and  thus  cancelled  the  debt  of  vengeance.”  It  is 
only  necessary  to  add  that  this  Yi  Rim-po  was  one  of  the  most 
corrupt  officials  China  ever  saw,  which  is  saying  a good  deal. 

Still  another  form  of  divination  depends  upon  the  “ Thoughts 
on  the  Works  of  the  Jade  Emperor  of  Heaven.”  If  a demon 
of  disease  is  so  malignant  that  nothing  but  the  direct  command 
of  the  deity  can  exorcise  it,  recourse  will  be  had  to  this  book. 


RELIGION  AND  SUPERSTITION 


425 


Insanity  is  considered  the  worst  of  diseases  and  is  caused  by  a 
most  “ poisonous  ” imp.  The  pansu  comes  to  the  house,  invites 
all  the  household  gods  to  a feast  and  asks  them  to  secure  the 
presence  of  the  evil  spirit.  This  accomplished,  he  feeds  the  ugly 
fellow  and  tells  him  to  depart  for  ever.  If  this  does  not  prove 
successful,  he  reads  a magic  formula  from  the  book,  which  gives 
him  power  over  the  imp.  The  latter  is  seized  and  corked  up  in 
a bottle  and  is  whipped.  He  may  escape,  and  if  so,  he  must  be 
feasted  again;  but  this  time  a peachwood  cork  is  used  and  the 
beating  is  done  with  peach  sticks,  which  reduces  the  spirit  to  help- 
lessness. The  bottle  is  then  given  to  a mudang  to  go  and  bury, 
the  direction  in  which  she  is  to  go  being  minutely  specified.  The 
cure  is  now  complete. 

“ Spirit  sending  divination  ” is  used  to  cure  men  at  a long 
distance.  “ Ten-thousand  spirit  divination  ” is  a sort  of  congress 
of  all  the  spirits,  at  which  the  pansu  presides.  The  “ spirit  im- 
prisoning divination  ” gives  a man  a sort  of  amulet  that  will 
protect  him  from  evil.  “ Spirit  liberating  divination  ” is  used 
in  case  one  of  the  spirits  is  in  prison  and  the  rest  want  to  get 
him  out.  One  of  them  goes  to  earth  and  afflicts  a man  with 
disease.  The  pansu  intervenes,  and  the  spirit  tells  him  that  he 
will  leave  if  the  pansu  will  secure  the  release  of  the  imprisoned 
one,  and  he  promises  to  go  security  for  the  spirit’s  future  good 
behaviour. 

In  every  Korean  book-stall  will  be  found  a little  volume  called 
“ The  Six  Marks  of  Divination,”  or  sometimes  “ The  Five  Rules 
for  Obtaining  the  Ten-thousand  Blessings.”  It  represents  some 
of  the  grossest  superstitions  of  the  Korean  people.  It  is  the  com- 
mon people  who  make  great  use  of  this  book,  but  the  woman  of 
the  upper  class  is  almost  sure  to  have  a volume  hidden  about  the 
house,  from  which  to  cast  the  horoscope  of  her  infant  sons  and 
daughters.  It  is  a curious  mixture  of  Buddhism,  spiritism  and 
fetichism.  One  can  see  at  a glance  how  Buddhism  has  joined 
forces  with  the  original  elements  in  Korean  religion  to  form  a 
conglomerate  that  will  suit  all  tastes. 


426 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


We  find,  first,  the  “ procession  of  the  years.”  It  tells  what 
star  rules  each  year  of  a person’s  life  from  the  tenth  to  the  sixty- 
fourth.  It  tells  what  he  must  do  to  insure  comfort  and  success, 
and  it  tells,  by  means  of  an  obscure  simile,  what  the  condition 
of  the  body  will  be.  It  begins  at  the  tenth  year,  because  before 
that  time  no  one  marries,  nor  does  a boy  shave  his  head  and 
become  a monk.  In  order  to  show  the  way  it  is  done,  we  will 
quote  two  or  three  of  the  formulae.  For  the  ele\  enth  year,  for 
instance,  we  find  that  a boy  will  be  luider  the  influence  of  the 
“earth  star”  (Saturn),  that  his  patron  will  be  Yuraposal  (a 
Buddhist  saint),  that  he  must  pay  particular  attention  to  his 
body,  which  will  resemble  a hazvk  in  the  ashes.  A girl  in  her 
eleventh  year  will  be  under  the  influence  of  the  “ man  image 
star,”  her  patron  will  be  Kwaneumposal  and  it  is  her  duty  to 
show  deference  to  the  spirits.  She  is  like  a deer  in  a deep  gorge. 

And  so  it  goes  through  the  whole  sixty-four  years.  The 
different  stars  are  the  Aletal  Star  (Venus),  Water  Star  (Mer- 
cury), Star  Sun  (Sun),  Fire  Star  (iMars)  and  so  on  through 
the  list.  The  patrons  are  a long  list  of  Buddhist  worthies.  The 
duties  are  nominal,  and  the  things  that  the  body  are  like  to  are 
as  follows : pig  in  hot  water,  deer  in  a blossom,  hawk  in  the 
mountain,  rat  in  the  garden,  wolf  in  the  bag,  pheasant  in  the 
ashes  and  lion  in  the  river.  In  all  there  are  eight  animals,  and 
the  situations  they  find  themselves  in  are  twelve  in  number; 
river,  garden,  ravine,  bag,  field,  ashes,  grass,  mountain,  hot 
Avater,  blossom,  mill  and  hill.  Among  the  animals  there  is  no 
distinction  between  the  good  and  the  bad,  but  it  is  the  combina- 
tion that  is  unpropitious.  The  hawk  in  the  ashes  or  the  rat 
in  the  river,  the  pig  in  a bag  and  a hawk  in  a mill  (rice-grinding 
mill)  are  evidently  bad  predicaments,  while  deer  in  the  moun- 
tain, wolf  in  the  field,  rat  in  the  garden  and  pig  in  the  ashes 
are  presumably  happy  combinations. 

Then  come  the  different  star  influences  and  their  power  OA'er 
the  destiny  of  a man  or  woman.  For  instance,  in  the  Sun  Star 
year,  one  will  haA'e  many  blessings,  a good  salary,  a chance  to 


RELIGION  AND  SUPERSTITION 


4^7 


travel  and  good  words  from  ever3Tody,  but  in  the  first,  fifth 
and  ninth  moons  he  will  be  censured  or  will  lose  monej".  In 
order  to  ward  off  these  evils,  one  must  cut  out  a disc  of  red  paper 
on  the  fifteenth  of  the  first  moon,  fasten  it  to  a piece  of  wild 
cherry  wood,  stick  it  up  on  the  roof  and  bow  to  the  four  points 
of  the  compass.  This  will  save  him  from  all  anxiety.  On  the 
■contrary,  in  the  Fire  Star  year  all  will  go  wrong.  One  will  be 
ill  or  will  be  censured.  The  house  may  burn  down.  In  the 
third  and  ninth  moons  one  is  almost  sure  to  be  ill.  In  the  fifth 
and  tenth  moons  one  of  his  sons  or  grandsons  will  lose  money 
and  must  be  on  the  lookout  for  robbers.  He  must  not  travel 
far  nor  must  he  engage  a new  servant.  And  yet  there  is  safety 
for  him  if  on  the  fifteenth  of  the  first  moon  he  will  tear  oft*  the 
■collar  of  his  coat  and  burn  it  toward  the  south. 

Another  division  of  the  book  deals  with  the  five  elements, 
metal,  wood,  water,  fire  and  earth.  This  form  of  divination  is 
practised  on  the  fifteenth  of  the  first  moon  in  order  to  find  out 
whether  luck  will  be  good  or  bad  during  the  year.  The  man 
takes  in  his  hand  five  little  discs  of  wood,  each  bearing  one  of 
the  names  of  the  elements  on  one  side  but  blank  on  the  other. 
Shaking  them  in  his  hand,  he  says : “ Beneath  the  bright  heavens 
I stand  and  pray,  I who  live  in  Whang-ha  Province,  town  of 
Ha-ju,  ward  of  Pu-yong,  by  name  Kim  iMun-suk.  To  the 
bright  heavens  I pray  that  I may  truly  be  shown  what  will  be- 
fall the  present  year,  or  good  or  ill.”  He  then  throws  the  discs 
upon  the  ground.  The  different  combinations  that  result  indicate, 
by  refereirce  to  the  book,  what  the  fortune  will  be.  If  they  are 
all  blank  but  one,  the  fortune  will  be  medium,  unless  that  one 
be  “ water,”  in  which  case  it  means  good  luck.  If  all  the  char- 
acters turn  up,  it  is  an  excellent  omen.  Water  and  wood  make 
a good  combination,  because  water  floats  wood.  Fire  and  water 
are,  rather  unexpectedl}^  good,  for  they  are  so  different  that 
they  do  not  interfere  with  each  other.  iMetal  and  wood  make 
a bad  combination,  because  metal  cuts  wood.  So  on  through- 
out the  list,  each  combination  telling  the  thrower  what  he  may 


428 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


expect  of  good  and  what  he  must  avoid  or  put  up  with  of 
evil. 

Still  another  way  to  tell  the  fortune  is  to  throw  four  little 
pieces  of  wood  like  half  an  inch  of  lead-pencil  split  in  two. 
The  combinations,  that  are  made  in  three  throws,  of  the  flat  or 
rounded  sides  that  turn  up,  will  tell  what  is  to  happen.  Some  of 
the  formulae  are  as  follows : The  man  will  be  like  a rat  in  a 
granary  (lean  in  spring  and  summer  and  fat  in  autumn  and 
winter),  like  a candle  at  night,  like  flowers  meeting  the  spring- 
time, like  a king  without  a realm,  like  a moth  about  a candle, 
like  a stork  that  has  lost  his  home,  like  a tortoise  in  a box,  like 
a dragon  in  the  sea,  like  a dead  man  come  to  life.  Each  of  these 
tells  its  own  story  and  needs  no  comment.  A Buddhistic  element 
is  seen  in  the  simile,  like  a monk  who  has  returned  to  the  world. 

It  will  be  seen  that  this  book  which  we  are  describing  is  like 
a domestic  medicine  book  in  our  own  land.  Those  that  cannot 
afford  to  hire  a mudang  to  cure  them  will  have  recourse  to  its 
pages,  and  this  accounts  for  the  enormous  sale  which  the  volume 
enjoys.  It  affirms  that  the  human  body  is  subject  to  two  kinds 
of  diseases,  — those  which  can  be  cured  by  medicine  and  those 
that  require  exorcism.  Some  people  have  foolishly  tried  to  cure 
both  kinds  by  drugs.  The  hermit  Chang  laid  down  the  rules  for 
exorcising  the  demons  of  disease,  and  he  wisely  said  that  if  in 
any  case  exorcism  does  not  succeed,  it  is  certain  that  the  disease 
is  one  that  must  be  cured  with  medicine.  Note  the  implication 
that  exorcism  should  be  tried  first,  which  is  a pretty  piece  of 
special  pleading  in  behalf  of  the  profession.  The  book  tells  on 
what  days  of  the  month  special  diseases  are  likely  to  break  out, 
and  the  name  of  the  spirit  that  causes  them.  Whichever  one  it  is, 
the  work  must  be  begun  by  writing  the  name  of  the  imp  on  a 
piece  of  white  or  yellow  paper  (according  to  the  day  on  which 
it  is  done)  together  with  the  name  of  the  point  of  the  compass 
from  which  the  spirit  comes,  wrap  a five-cash  piece  in  this  paper 
and  throw  it  out  of  the  door  at  the  imp.  These  imps  are  sup- 
posed to  be  the  spirits  of  people  that  have  died,  and  they  are 


RELIGION  AND  SUPERSTITION 


429 

specified  as  spirits  of  men  who  have  died  by  accident  away  from 
home,  aged  female  relatives,  yellow-headed  men,  perjurers,  men 
who  have  died  by  drowning  and  so  on  to  the  end  of  the  list. 
In  each  case  the  exorcist  is  told  to  go  a certain  number  of  paces 
in  some  particular  direction  and  throw  the  cash.  The  her- 
mit wisely  confined  himself  to  diseases  that  will  pass  away  in  a 
few  days  by  themselves,  but  it  is  a pity  he  did  not  exorcise  the 
whole  troop  of  devils  with  a good  dose  of  castor  oil. 

The  book  gives  a description  of  various  sorts  of  calamities 
and  indicates  the  way  to  avoid  them.  One  can  tell  from  the 
“ Cycle  of  Years  ” when  a misfortune  is  due  to  arrive,  and  in 
order  to  avoid  it  he  must,  upon  the  morning  of  his  birthday, 
spread  a mat  on  the  ground,  place  three  bowls  of  white  rice  on 
a table  on  the  mat,  also  three  plates  of  gluten-rice  bread  and 
three  cups  of  wine.  He  must  then  bow  nine  times,  spread  three 
sheets  of  white  paper  over  another  table,  wrap  in  each  sheet  a 
measure  of  white  rice  and  hang  them  up  over  the  door.  Three 
years  later  it  must  be  taken  down,  cooked  and  thrown  to  the 
spirit.  Also  during  the  first  moon  of  the  year  in  which  the  calam- 
ity is  scheduled  to  arrive  he  must  draw  the  picture  of  three  hawks 
upon  paper  and  paste  them  up  in  his  room  with  the  bills  of  the 
birds  all  pointing  toward  the  door. 

The  medical  portion  of  the  book  deals  almost  exclusively 
with  female  and  children’s  diseases,  showing  that  it  is  the  women 
who  use  the  work  and  not  the  men.  It  will  be  impossible  to  do 
more  than  indicate  a few  of  the  remedies  that  are  used.  The 
most  common  are  poultice  of  cow’s  dung ; twenty-one  ginko  nuts ; 
the  split  kernel  of  an  apricot  seed  with  the  word  “ sun  ” written 
on  one  side  and  “ moon  ” on  the  other  and  then  stuck  together  with 
honey ; water  in  which  the  wooden  pin  of  a nether  millstone  has 
been  boiled;  three  live  frogs;  four  boiled  dog’s  feet;  water  in 
which  burned  hair  has  been  boiled;  the  yellow  clay  in  which 
a frog  has  been  wrapped  and  burned  to  death ; the  saliva  of  a 
black  cow;  a boiled  hen  whose  abdominal  cavity  has  been  filled 
with  angle-worms.  Such  are  a few  of  the  remedies.  In  no  case 


430 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


is  the  patient  urged  to  call  in  a physician.  The  writer  evidently 
knew  that  the  reader  would  probably  not  be  able  to  afford  the 
care  of  a physician. 

Only  once,  far  back  in  the  eighties,  was  it  my  privilege  to 
witness  the  curious  ceremony  of  frightening  away  the  “ Heavenly 
Dog  ” that  was  going  to  swallow  the  moon.  From  the  earliest 
antiquity  eclipses  have  been  looked  upon  with  fear  by  the  Koreans, 
and  even  though  they  have  known  for  many  centuries  the  cause 
of  the  phenomenon  and  were  formerly  able  to  predict  an  eclipse, 
yet  the  still  more  ancient  custom  of  frightening  away  the  animal 
persists. 

A brisk  walk  of  ten  minutes  brought  us  to  the  limits  of  the 
suburbs,  and  there  we  found  a company  of  a thousand  Koreans 
•or  more  gathered  on  a circular  piece  of  ground,  which  was  sur- 
rounded by  an  amphitheatre  of  hills.  They  were  grouped  in  silent 
■companies  on  the  sloping  hillsides,  and  in  their  white  garments 
looked  like  a congregation  of  very  orderly  ghosts.  The  central 
plot  was  covered  with  mats  to  form  a dancing  floor,  and  on 
either  side  was  a huge  bonfire.  Around  the  edge  of  the  circle 
sat  the  Korean  orchestra,  whose  strains  alone  ought  to  ha\e 
sufficed  to  scare  the  Heavenly  Dog.  At  ten  o’clock  the  shadow 
of  the  earth  began  to  pass  across  the  face  of  the  moon.  A 
sudden  darkness  fell  upon  the  scene,  and  the  two  fires,  no  longer 
suffering  competition,  gleamed  with  a new  intensity  upon  the 
still  faces  which  pressed  eagerly  forward  to  catch  the  subtle 
meaning  of  the  weird  notes  that  the  musicians  produced.  Only 
one  who  is  “ to  the  manner  born,”  and  who  has  in  his  blood  the 
dash  of  mysticism  born  of  the  East,  can  get  from  that  weird 
music  all  that  the  Korean  can.  All  the  time  the  moon  is  adum- 
brated the  crowd  stands  silent,  awed,  intent.  They  know  that 
it  is  all  a mere  play,  but  the  dramatic  element  in  their  nature 
carries  them  back  to  those  far  days  when  their  savage  forbears 
stood  transfixed  with  genuine  fear  lest  the  light  of  the  moon 
be  for  e^’er  darkened. 

The  moment  the  limb  of  the  moon  appears  beyond  the 


RELIGION  AND  SUPERSTITION 


43  ^ 

shadow,  and  it  becomes  apparent  that  the  Heavenly  Dog  has 
“ bitten  off  more  than  he  can  chew,”  there  is  a sudden  change 
in  the  music,  a stir  in  the  crowd.  They  press  forward  eagerly, 
and  at  that  instant  a man  leaps  into  the  centre  of  the  ring,  wear- 
ing a hideous  mask  and  blood-red  sleeves  that  hang  down  to 
the  ground.  The  dance  is  not  to  be  described  in  words.  The 
impression  that  remains,  after  the  years  have  mellowed  the 
memory  of  the  spectacle,  is  that  there  were  two  kinds  of  motion, 
one  of  the  feet  and  one  of  the  hands.  Imagine  a half-intoxicated 
man  standing  on  one  foot  and  trying  to  put  a sock  on  the  other. 
This  was  the  principal  figure  that  the  feet  cut.  With  both  the 
long  sleeves  the  man  tries  to  defend  himself  against  the  attack 
of  a very  determined  swarm  of  bees.  This  is  the  whole  com- 
bination, first  on  one  foot  and  then  on  the  other,  while  the 
bees  continue  to  get  in  their  work.  Before  long  other  actors 
join  the  rout,  and  the  performance  becomes  a mere  exhibition 
of  buffoonery,  which  soon  becomes  tiresome.  But  the  white- 
coated  crowd,  the  wild  whirl  of  the  dance,  the  weird  snarl  of 
the  pipes  and  over  all  the  fitful  gleam  of  the  great  fires,  — it  all 
makes  a picture  not  soon  to  be  forgotten. 


CHAPTER  XXXI 


SLAVERY 

WE  must  briefly  review  the  history  of  slavery  in 
Korea  before  describing  its  present  status.  At  the 
time  of  Kija,  who  came  to  Korea  in  1122  b.  c., 
slavery  did  not  exist  in  China ; but  when  that 
great  coloniser  took  in  hand  the  half-savage  denizens  of  the 
peninsula,  he  found  it  necessary  to  enact  stringent  laws.  Among 
the  different  forms  of  punishment  decreed  by  him,  we  find  that 
slavery  was  one.  We  cannot  but  admire  the  line  of  reason- 
ing upon  which  he  based  what  we  believe  to  be  a social  evil. 
He  said  in  effect : “ God  decrees  that  man  shall  live  by  his 
own  exertions,  each  one  earning  a living  by  his  own  hands  and 
obtaining  both  the  necessities  and  luxuries  of  existence  by  his 
own  personal  effort.  If,  therefore,  a man  takes  by  wile  or  by 
force  the  fruits  of  another  man’s  industry,  he  becomes  joined  to 
that  man  by  a logical  and  moral  bond.  If  he  eats  the  other  man’s 
food,  he  belongs  to  the  other  man.”  Theft  was  therefore  pun- 
ished by  slavery,  the  thief  becoming  the  property  of  the  man 
from  whom  he  stole.  It  was  possible  for  him  to  redeem  himself 
by  the  payment  of  a large  sum  of  money,  but  even  after  that  he 
must  remain  a discredited  member  of  society,  an  outcast.  .Adul- 
tery was  likewise  punished  by  slavery,  but  the  male  offender 
could  not,  for  obvious  reasons,  become  a slave  in  the  house  of 
the  man  he  had  wronged.  He  became  a slave  of  the  govern- 
ment, and  the  King  gave  him  to  one  or  other  of  the  high 
officials. 

This  continued  till  the  year  193  B.  c.,  when  Kijun,  the  last 
of  the  ancient  line,  Avas  driven  out  by  Wiman  and  fled  to  the 
southern  part  of  the  peninsula.  The  upheaval  of  the  north  dis- 
organised society,  and  slavery  disappeared  under  Y’iman’s  short 


SLAVERY 


433 


rule.  But  Kijun  carried  the  institution  south  with  him  and 
introduced  it  into  his  new  kingdom  of  Mahan.  It  existed  in  the 
mild  form  in  the  early  days  of  Silla  (57  b.  C.-918  A.  D.),  but 
could  not  have  been  very  common,  for  only  murderers  were 
condemned  to  slavery.  Meanwhile  the  Kingdom  of  Koguryu 
arose  in  the  north  (36  b.  c.).  Slavery  did  not  exist  there  until 
the  armies  began  the  conquest  of  the  wild  Hyungno  tribe.  These 
people  were  taken  and  made  slaves.  Thus  we  find  that  when 
Buddhism  began  to  gain  a foothold  on  Korean  soil  in  the  fourth 
century,  slavery  existed  in  a mild  form  throughout  the  peninsula. 

One  curious  effect  of  Buddhism  was  to  do  away  with  the 
institution  of  slavery.  The  exaggerated  notion  of  the  value  of 
human  and  animal  life  entertained  by  that  cult,  together  with 
the  doctrine  of  the  transmigration  of  souls,  aroused  a decided 
sentiment  against  human  slavery,  and  so  the  institution  fell  into 
desuetude  throughout  the  peninsula  in  proportion  as  Buddhism 
made  conquest  of  the  country. 

But  after  the  entire  peninsula  was  united  by  the  first  king  of 
Koryu  in  918  A.  d.  and  Buddhism  became  rampant,  the  cult 
underwent  a rapid  deterioration.  Its  spirit  dropped  away,  leav- 
ing nothing  but  the  form.  Luxury  began  to  sap  the  life  of  the 
people,  and  slavery  again  lifted  its  head.  In  fact,  the  number 
of  slaves  increased  to  an  enormous  total,  and  exciting  stories  are 
told  of  how  they  revolted  from  time  to  time  and  fought  bloody 
battles  with  their  masters,  only  to  be  put  down.  On  one  occasion 
three  hundred  slaves  had  stones  tied  about  their  necks  and  were 
cast  into  a river. 

When  the  Koryu  dynasty  was  overthrown  and  the  present 
one  took  its  place,  in  1392,  there  occurred  a period  of  social 
house-cleaning  in  the  peninsula;  but  general  slavery  continued 
up  to  the  time  of  the  great  invasion  by  the  Japanese  Hideyoshi, 
1592.  This  war  killed  off  so  many  of  the  male  population  of 
Korea  that  when  peace  reigned  once  more,  a law  was  promul- 
gated forbidding  the  slavery  of  males  and  confining  it  to  the 
gentler  sex.  This  has  continued  till  the  present  time,  and  the 


434 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


great  outstanding  fact  in  regard  to  the  slavery  of  Korea  to-day 
is  that  there  is  not  a single  male  slave  in  the  domains  of  the 
Emperor  of  Korea. 

In  discussing  the  status  of  slavery,  therefore,  we  have  to  do 
only  with  female  slaves,  and  the  first  c^uestion  that  arises  in  the 
inquiring  mind  is  as  to  the  methods  by  which  a woman  can 
become  a slave.  There  are  four  ways. 

Let  us  suppose  that  a woman  of  the  middle  or  lower  class 
finds  that  she  has  lost  all  visible  means  of  support,  and  must 
either  become  a beggar  or  a slave  or  else  starve ; or  if  perchance 
she  is  in  great  need  of  ready  money  to  bury  a parent  or  to  sup- 
port aged  parents,  she  will  go  to  an  acc[uaintance  and  ask  him  to 
recommend  her  to  one  of  his  friends  as  a slave.  This  is  done, 
and  she  is  introduced  into  the  house  of  her  prospective  purchaser. 
He  looks  her  over,  sets  her  to  work,  and  satisfies  himself  that  she 
is  competent.  He  then  pays  her  forty  thousand,  fifty  thousand 
or  as  high  as  a hundred  thousand  cash  for  herself,  and  she  gives 
a deed  of  her  own  person,  made  out  in  legal  form.  In  place  of 
a seal,  she  places  her  hand  upon  the  paper  and  marks  its  out- 
line with  a brush  pen,  and  by  this  she  can  easily  be  identified. 
She  is  now  a slave.  The  transaction  does  not  come  under  the 
cognisance  of  the  government,  but  is  a private  contract.  For- 
merly only  men  of  the  higher  class  were  allowed  to  hold  slaves, 
and  it  is  only  during  the  last  fifty  years  that  Koreans  of  the  middle 
class  ha\'e  been  allowed  to  hold  them.  This  is  one  of  the  marked 
features  of  the  rapid  demolition  of  social  barriers  that  has  been 
taking  place  during  the  past  half-century.  A woman  of  the 
upper  class  can  sell  herself  into  slavery  only  by  disguising  her 
high  birth  and  so  deceiving  her  purchaser,  for  no  gentleman 
would  knowingly  buy  a lady’s  person,  not  only  because  of  the 
innate  impropriety  of  the  transaction,  but  because  he  would  sub- 
ject himself  to  the  most  caustic  criticism  of  his  peers. 

The  second  way  in  which  a woman  could  become  a slave  was 
as  follows.  If  a gentleman  was  convicted  of  treason  (or,  for- 
merly, of  counterfeiting  as  well),  he  was  either  executed  or 


SLAVERY 


435 


banished,  and  all  the  female  inmates  of  his  house  became  slaves. 
They  were  given  by  the  government  to  high  officials,  but  as  a 
rule  it  was  not  long  before  such  women  were  liberated.  They 
were  never  sold  from  one  house  to  another. 

If  a woman  slave  dies,  her  daughter  takes  her  place  and  enters 
the  ranks  of  slaves.  She  is  called  a “ seed  slave,”  as  she  fol- 
lows the  mother  in  the  ordinary  line  of  descent.  Under  every 
circumstance  a slave  dying,  still  unredeemed,  has  to  give  her 
daughter  to  be  a slave  in  her  place.  It  is  very  probable  that  when 
a slave  dies  leaving  a young  daughter,  this  young  girl  will  go 
Avith  the  master’s  daughter  as  part  of  her  wedding  dowry. 

There  is  a fourth  way  in  which  a woman  may  become  a 
slave.  She  is  poor,  and  finds  it  impossible  to  live.  She  wants 
a home  of  some  kind,  and  so  voluntarily  offers  herself  as  a slave 
without  any  compensation,  except  the  food,  clothes  and  shelter 
that  will  be  given  her.  One  would  suppose  that  such  a slave 
would  be  of  a higher  grade  than  the  one  that  has  sold  herself, 
but  the  opposite  is  the  case.  The  sold  slave  can  redeem  herself 
at  any  time  by  paying  back  the  exact  amount  that  she  received, 
but  a woman  who  becomes  a voluntary  slave  cannot  be  liberated 
by  any  means. 

As  all  slaves  are  women,  it  will  be  necessary  to  inquire  how 
their  marriages  are  arranged  and  what  is  the  status  of  the  hus- 
band. It  is  manifestly  to  the  interest  of  the  owner  to  have  his 
slave  marry,  for  if  she  dies  without  issue  there  will  be  no  one  to 
take  her  place.  A bought  slave  is  allowed  to  select  her  partner 
about  as  she  pleases.  She  will  probably  marry  some  day-labourer 
or  coolie  in  the  vicinity.  She  has  her  little  room  on  her  master’s 
compound,  usually  near  the  gate  quarters;  and  her  husband  is 
allowed  to  occupy  it  with  her  free  of  rent.  He  owes  nothing  to 
the  master  of  the  house,  and  does  no  work  for  him  excepting  of 
his  own  accord.  In  the  case  of  a slave  who  is  not  bought,  the 
master  may  let  her  marry  or  not,  as  he  wishes ; but  ordinarily 
he  will  consent.  After  she  has  worked  several  years  her  master 
not  infrequently  lets  her  go,  and  even  sets  her  up  in  some  little 


436 


JHE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


business  or  other.  The  husband  of  a slave  has  no  right  to  eat 
the  rice  that  she  receives  from  her  master.  He  must  bring  in 
his  own  provender,  and  the  two  will  “ pool  ” their  interests  and 
get  along  very  snugly.  Of  course  she  will  try  to  get  enough  out 
of  her  master  to  feed  them  both,  but  in  any  case  the  children 
eat  of  the  master’s  rice  till  they  are  old  enough  to  work  for 
themselves. 

We  have  seen  that  if  a slave  dies  her  daughter  takes  her 
place.  If  there  are  several  daughters  the  eldest  takes  the  mother’s 
place,  and  the  rest  go  free.  If  the  eldest  daughter  dies  before 
her  mother,  then  the  master  selects  one  of  the  younger  ones  to 
take  the  mother’s  place.  If  a slave  dies  and  the  eldest  daughter 
takes  up  her  work,  but  dies  immediately,  none  of  the  other 
daughters  can  be  compelled  to  step  into  the  A-acant  place.  All 
male  children  are  naturally  free  and  cannot  be  enslaved.  They 
owe  nothing  to  their  mother’s  master,  and  as  soon  as  they  can 
go  alone  they  no  longer  feed  out  of  his  bag. 

The  slave  does  all  the  rough  work  about  the  house.  She 
does  the  washing,  brings  the  water  from  the  neighbourhood  well, 
goes  to  market,  helps  with  the  cooking,  Avalks  as  a mourner  in 
her  master’s  funeral  procession,  runs  errands  and  makes  herself 
generally  useful.  In  the  country  she  Avill  work  as  an  ordinary 
field  hand.  She  is  not  the  familiar  servant  of  the  lady  of  the 
house,  and  she  seldom  acts  as  lady’s-maid,  nor  is  she  ever  called 
to  do  any  of  the  seAving  or  nursing.  Her  place  is  in  her  master’s 
kitchen  or  yard,  and  not  in  the  chamber  of  her  mistress. 

Korean  folk-lore  is  full  of  stories  of  faithful  and  mfaithful 
slaves. 


CHAPTER  XXXII 


FUNERAL  PROCESSION  — GEOMANCY 

A ROYAL  death  demands  universal  lament.  The  entire 
nation  must  assume  a mourning-  garb,  the  colour  of 
■which  is  not  black,  as  with  us,  but  the  natural  colour 
of  sack-cloth,  — a dirty  yellow.  The  chief  mourners 
must  be  particular  as  to  the  colour,  but  the  populace  as  a whole 
adopts  white.  As  this  is  the  ordinary  colour  for  Korean  cloth- 
ing, it  becomes  necessary  only  to  doff  their  black  hats  and  put 
on  white  ones.  Those  who  are  very  poor  can  compound  with 
the  law  by  pasting  white  paper  over  their  black  hats.  No  bright 
colours  must  appear  on  any  portion  of  the  body. 

The  body  of  the  dead  is  partially  embalmed,  and  laid  in  an 
artificially  cooled  room,  where  it  remains  five  months,  the  legal 
interval  within  which  the  royal  dead  cannot  be  interred.  A few 
days  after  the  announcement  of  the  death  all  the  high  officials 
meet  before  the  great  gate  of  the  palace,  and,  seated  on  their 
mats,  lament  the  departure  of  the  illustrious  deceased.  Then  the 
preparations  begin.  Money  pours  in  from  the  provinces,  the 
guilds  are  informed  what  services  will  be  required  of  them, 
the  geomancers  are  sent  out  to  find  a propitious  site  for  the  tomb, 
and  thousands  of  men  are  set  to  work  making  the  various  para- 
phernalia that  will  be  needed  to  bring  the  occasion  off  with  suffi- 
cient eclat. 

As  the  day  for  the  grand  procession  draws  near,  people  begin 
to  flock  in  from  the  country  to  see  the  sight,  and  every  inn  is 
full  to  overflowing.  All  the  government  departments  are  intent 
upon  nothing  else,  and  ordinary  business  is  at  a standstill.  Sev- 
eral days  before  the  great  event,  there  are  trial  processions  in 
which  the  participants  are  trained  for  the  performance  of  their 


438 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


various  functions.  In  order  to  witness  the  pageant  to  best  advan- 
tage, one  must  secure  in  advance  the  upper  story  of  one  of  the 
veiy  few  two-story  buildings  on  the  Great  Bell  Street,  which 
runs  through  the  centre  of  the  town. 

At  midnight  a small  company  of  foreigners  sallied  out  and 
made  their  way  down  through  the  crowded  streets  to  the  building 
that  they  had  preempted.  A perfect  sea  of  lanterns  showed  the 
innv:merable  throng  hurrying  to  their  places  of  observation.  Soon 
after  we  had  secured  our  places  a sudden  hush  in  the  surging, 
screaming  crowd  told  us  that  the  vanguard  of  the  procession  was 
at  hand.  The  people  pressed  to  the  sides  of  the  street  and  stood 
perfectly  quiet.  This  great  thoroughfare  is  about  one  hundred 
feet  wide,  and  gives  ample  opportunity  for  the  full  display  of  such 
a pageant.  Looking  far  up  the  street  to  the  left,  we  could  see  the 
advance  runners  of  the  funeral  cortege  moving  slowly  down 
between  two  solid  walls  of  hushed  humanity.  First  came  a num- 
ber of  torch-bearers,  whose  duty  it  was  to  light  the  great  brush 
torches  that  are  planted  at  intervals  all  down  the  avenue.  These 
torches  are  as  thick  as  a man’s  body  and  ten  feet  high ; and  as 
they  flickered,  crackled  and  then  sent  up  a spire  of  lurid,  smoky 
flame,  they  seemed  to  turn  everything  blood-red,  and  made  the 
advancing  ranks  of  the  procession  look  more  like  a company  of 
fiends  than  of  human  beings. 

The  main  body  of  the  procession  was  flanked  on  either  side 
by  a line  of  soldiers  who  carried  in  lieu  of  muskets  silk  flags 
embroidered  with  Chinese  characters.  Some  of  them  bore  long 
paddles,  with  which  they  were  supposed  to  keep  the  crowd  back 
if  it  pressed  too  close.  The  first  division  of  the  procession  itself 
was  composed  of  thirteen  large  sedan  chairs  draped  in  red.  blue 
and  green  brocaded  silks,  and  borne  on  the  shoulders  of  a dozen 
carriers  whose  liveries  were  pink  and  white.  These  chairs  are 
supposed  to  carry  the  thirteen  historians  whose  duty  it  is  to  write 
the  achievements  of  the  deceased.  The  absolute  silence  with 
which  these  figures  glide  by  adds  much  to  the  weirdness  and 
solemnity  of  the  occasion.  The  road  is  not  paved,  and  their 


FUNERAL  PROCESSION  — GEOMANCY  439 


shoes  are  soft,  sandal-like  arrangements  that  make  no  noise. 
Next  come  a number  of  banners  of  Oriental  richness,  borne  aloft 
on  bamboo  poles,  each  surmounted  by  a handsome  bunch  of  pea- 
cock feathers.  From  the  cross-bar  hangs  the  banner  itself,  ten 
feet  long  by  four  feet  wide.  The  central  panel  is  of  white  bro- 
caded silk,  on  which  are  sewed  Chinese  characters  in  black  and 
red.  The  border  is  of  another  colour  of  silk,  and  is  deeply  ser- 
rated at  the  edge.  From  the  ends  of  the  cross-bars  hang  lanterns 
and  bells.  The  pole  is  covered  with  red  felt,  on  which  are  gilt 
figures  of  men,  birds  and  dragons.  Each  of  the  great  guilds  of 
Seoul  is  required  to  furnish  one  of  these  costly  trinkets.  They 
represent  an  expenditure  of  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars 
each.  Next  come  a crowd  of  gaudily  dressed  bearers,  carrying 
aloft  on  poles  long  scrolls  of  white  paper  on  which  are  written 
eulogies  of  the  dead  by  the  most  famous  scholars  of  the  land. 
They  are  substitutes  for  an  obituary  address.  Behind  these  comes- 
the  chair  of  state  which  the  deceased  was  wont  to  ride,  a sump- 
tuous affair  borne  high  above  the  heads  of  a score  of  sturdy 
fellows.  It  is  draped  and  canopied  with  costliest  silks,  and  is 
bedizened  on  every  side  with  bangles,  knots  and  tassels.  Before 
it  is  borne  the  royal  red  umbrella,  and  behind  it,  festooned  upon 
a hundred  poles  or  more,  is  carried  the  blue  cloth  fence  within 
which  the  palace  women  ride  on  ponies  to  the  place  of  burial.  It 
is  to  protect  them  from  the  curious  eyes  of  the  crowd.  It  is  not 
unlikely  that  this  is  a remnant  of  the  ancient  custom  of  burying 
several  girls  alive  in  the  tomb  of  a dead  king.  History  records 
one  significant  instance  in  which  a king  of  Silla  gave  orders 
that  in  his  case  this  barbaric  custom  must  be  omitted. 

The  next  feature  is  a pack  of  hobgoblins  or  imps  with  enor- 
mous masks  over  their  faces.  These  masks  are  three  feet  broad, 
and  have  two  pairs  of  staring  eyes  and  hideous  grinning  mouths. 
These  are  supposed  to  frighten  away  all  evil  spirits  and  make  the 
obsequies  propitious.  Behind  these,  after  an  interval,  comes  the 
master  of  ceremonies,  mounted  upon  a splendid  white  horse,  and 
surrounded  by  liveried  attendants  and  armed  troops.  The  trap- 


440 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


pings  of  the  horse  reach  almost  to  the  ground,  and  the  robes  of 
the  rider  are  of  the  most  gorgeous  description.  He  is  a general 
of  the  highest  rank.  He  bears  in  his  hand  the  wand  of  authority, 
and  for  the  time  being  holds  the  power  of  life  and  death.  There 
are  two  catafalques  exactly  alike,  and  no  one  is  supposed  to  know 
in  which  one  the  body  lies.  A description  of  one  will  suffice  for 
both.  It  rests  upon  a heavy  framework  that  is  carried  on  the 
shoulders  of  one  hundred  and  eight  bearers.  Thick  transverse 
poles  have  heavy  padded  ropes  run  fore  and  aft  between  them, 
so  that  the  shoulders  of  the  bearers  may  not  be  galled.  On  the 
high  framework  is  a structure  like  a little  house,  ten  feet  long, 
six  feet  high  and  five  feet  broad.  The  roof  and  sides  of  this 
pavilion  are  painted  and  draped  with  the  gaudiest  colours.  All 
the  tints  of  the  rainbow  and  several  others  compete  for  the 
supremacy.  One  man  stands  on  the  framework  immediately  in 
front  of  the  pavilion,  and  another  stands  behind  it,  facing  back. 
The  one  in  front  holds  a bell  in  his  hand,  and  he  keeps  time  so 
that  the  men  may  step  together.  Ropes  a hundred  feet  long 
extend  forward  from  the  catafalque  and  also  back,  and  a long 
line  of  men  hold  these,  and  are  supposed  to  pull  forward  or  back, 
as  it  may  be  necessary  to  ease  the  unwieldy  thing  down  a hill  or 
draw  it  up  one. 

By  far  the  most  interesting  and  novel  feature  of  the  whole 
procession  follows  this  catafalque.  It  is  six  enormous  paper 
horses  made  of  paper  stuck  over  a framework  of  wood.  They 
are  aboiit  ten  feet  high,  and  are  mounted  upon  great  carts  so 
that  they  loom  full  fourteen  feet  from  the  ground.  The  anat- 
omy of  these  monsters  is  wonderful  and  fearful,  and  their  size 
makes  one  think  of  his  boyhood  days  when  he  read  of  the  siege 
of  ancient  Troy.  These  are  to  be  burned  at  the  tomb,  and  will 
furnish  a means  of  locomotion  for  the  deceased  in  the  world 
beyond.  It  is  very  plain  that  Confucianism  is  not  tlie  only  reli- 
gion of  these  people,  nor  Buddhism  either,  for  the  most  dis- 
tinctive things  about  this  great  ceremon}"  are  neither  tire  one  nor 
the  other,  but  relics  of  the  aboriginal  nature  worship  of  the 


IMPERIAL  “FUNERAL  BAKED  MEATS’ 


FUNERAL  PROCESSION  — GEOMANCY  441 


people.  In  the  rear  of  all  come  a company  of  foreign-drilled 
troops  who  present  a striking  contrast  to  the  medieval  pageant 
that  has  gone  before. 

The  cost  of  such  a funeral  varies  with  circumstances.  If  it 
is  a king  that  is  being  buried,  it  may  cost  half  a million  dollars, 
but  in  case  it  be  a prince  or  princess  it  may  come  within  a hundred 
thousand.  In  any  case  it  is  a severe  drain  upon  the  finances  of 
the  country,  not  merely  because  of  the  monetary  outlay,  but 
because  it  disorganises  everything  for  the  time  being,  and  through 
adventitious  causes  brings  great  loss  to  the  people. 

GEOMANCY 

It  will  be  a sad  day  when  Nature  loses  all  her  mystery  and 
when  we  can  project  the  cathode  ray  of  science  into  every  crack 
and  cranny  of  this  over-classified  world,  — when  we  shall  put, 
as  it  were,  a revolver  to  the  head  of  the  Sibyl  and  compel  her 
to  rearrange  the  scattered  leaves,  when  we  shall  reduce  to  gram- 
mar the  leaf  language  of  the  Dordonian  oak.  No  one  seems 
satisfied  to-day  unless  he  has  his  eye  at  a microscope  or  a tele- 
scope. Wordsworth  had  the  present  age  in  mind  when  he  spoke 
of  the  man  who  would  “ peep  and  botanise  upon  his  mother’s 
grave.”  The  very  children  know  there  is  no  pot  of  gold  beneath 
the  end  of  the  rainbow  and  that  Santa  Claus  is  a myth.  But  the 
Korean  is  as  yet  untouched  by  this  passion  for  classification. 
He  is  as  full  of  myth  and  legend,  of  fairy  lore  and  goblin  fancy, 
as  any  minstrel  of  the  middle  ages.  Nature  is  full  of  the  mys- 
terious, and  for  that  reason  speaks  to  him  in  some  sort  with 
greater  authority  than  she  does  to  us. 

Korean  geomancy  might  be  a page  torn  from  some  old 
wizard’s  book  or  copied  from  a Druid’s  scroll.  It  forms  a dis- 
tinct profession  here,  though  no  guild  of  geomancers  exists. 
By  some  unwritten  law  the  ranks  of  the  profession  are  recruited 
only  from  the  country,  as  no  Seoul  man  is  eligible.  This  is 
because  the  geomancer  is  occupied  almost  exclusively  in  finding 


442 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


propitious  grave  sites,  and  so  the  dwellers  in  the  country  are 
much  better  qualified  than  the  denizens  of  the  metropolis.  It 
is  ordinarily  the  Rip  Van  Winkle  style  of  man,  who  prefers 
walking  over  the  hills  with  his  dog  and  pipe  rather  than  doing 
an  honest  day’s  work,  that  evolves  into  a geomancer. 

The  first  step  in  his  novitiate  is  the  mastery  of  the  book  called 
‘‘  The  Great,  Important,  Celestial  Instrument.”  Having  learned 
the  theoretical  side,  he  then  begins  to  take  practical  lessons 
under  a competent  teacher.  They  wander  o^•er  the  hills  together, 
discussing  the  merits  of  the  different  burial  sites  and  determin- 
ing their  relative  values.  A man’s  prospects  in  life  may  be 
blighted  by  burying  his  father’s  body  in  an  unpropitious  spot. 
More  agues,  sprains,  murrains  and  blights  are  caused  by  this 
than  by  any  or  all  other  causes.  When  the  candidate  has  been 
all  over  his  allotted  district,  and  has  studied  all  the  available 
places  and  has  made  out  a mental  list  of  charges,  ranging  from 
several  hundred  dollars  for  a first-class  site  down  to  a few  cents 
for  an  indifferent  one,  he  graduates,  buys  him  a yiindo,  “ wheel 
picture,”  — in  other  words,  a compass,  — and  is  ready  to  “ hang 
out  his  shingle.”  He  has  now  taken  the  degree  of  “ Earth  Spe- 
cialist,” or,  as  we  might  say,  the  degree  of  B.E.,  Bachelor  of 
Earth. 

We  must  imagine  him,  then,  in  his  office  waiting  for  trade. 
A young  man  comes  in  and  states  that  his  father  is  dead  and  a 
suitable  burial  site  must  be  found  at  once.  The  geomancer 
accompanies  the  young  man  to  his  home,  where  a substantial 
meal  is  set  forth,  to  be  washed  down  with  plenty  of  wine.  This 
forms  the  retaining  fee.  He  then  puts  out  feelers  in  all  direc- 
tions to  learn  about  how  much  the  young  man  is  able  to  pay, 
and,  having  made  up  his  mind  on  this  cardinal  point,  he  leads 
the  youth  over  the  hills  and  discourses  on  the  various  sites. 

The  first  question  to  be  asked  about  any  site  is  whether  it 
has  a good  “ advancing  dragon.’’  This  is  the  line  or  range  of 
hills  leading  down  to  the  site.  The  declivity  where  a long  un- 
broken line  of  hills  drops  to  the  level  of  the  valley  is  usually  a 


FUNERAL  PROCESSION  — GEOMANCY  443 


good  site.  But  if  the  line  of  hills  is  short,  or  if  the  continuity 
of  the  range  is  broken  at  any  point  by  a deep  intersecting  valley, 
if  the  range  is  mostly  shorn  of  timber,  or  if  it  is  rugged  and 
abounding  in  precipices,  the  site  will  be  of  comparatively  little 
value.  The  perfect  site  is  rare  and  hard  to  find.  It  is  called 
a “ mountain  line  that  curves  around  and  sees  its  great- 
grandfather.” Each  of  the  points  that  form  the  chain  is  looked 
upon  as  the  parent  of  the  next  lower  one,  and  so,  when  the  line 
curves  so  that  from  the  lowest  eminence  the  highest  one  is 
visible,  it  means  that  the  latest  descendant  can  always  look  upon 
his  ancestor. 

Next  in  importance  is  “ the  prospect.”  To  be  perfect  it 
must  be  toward  the  south,  though  the  east  or  west  are  not 
bad.  It  must  never  be  toward  the  north,  for  it  looks  away  from 
the  sun  and  its  colour  is  black.  The  blue  dragon  and  white 
tiger  must  also  be  attended  to.  These  represent  the  east  and 
west  sides  of  the  grave,  where  the  flanking  hills  must  be  of 
equal  length  or  their  influence  will  be  evil.  The  most  dangerous 
thing  is  a kyubong,  or  “ spying  peak.”  If  from  the  grave  site 
there  can  be  seen  the  top  of  a hill  peeping  over  the  top  of  a 
nearer  one,  it  means  that  the  descendants  of  the  man  buried 
there  are  fated  to  become  robbers.  A genius,  or  spirit  of  evil, 
crouches  behind  the  nearer  hill  and  keeps  its  baleful  eye  upon 
the  last  resting-place  of  the  dead. 

If  everything  is  right  and  the  pay  is  guaranteed,  the  geo- 
mancer  gets  out  his  “ wheel  picture,”  lays  it  on  the  ground  and 
determines  the  exact  direction  in  which  the  grave  must  face. 
If  there  are  other  graves  in  sight,  it  must  not  point  toward  any 
of  them.  The  remoteness  or  proximity  of  other  graves  exer- 
cises an  important  influence.  The  operator  next  lays  the  “ golden 
well.”  This  is  a frame  composed  of  two  transverse  and  two 
lateral  rods  in  the  shape  of  the  Chinese  character  for  well.  A 
mark  is  made  all  around  inside  this  parallelogram,  and  the 
ground  is  broken  for  the  grave.  The  depth  to  which  it  must 
be  dug,  and  the  position  that  the  chief  mourner  must  occupy  at 


444 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


the  burial  ceremony,  must  be  carefully  determined  or  there  will 
be  literally  “ the  devil  to  pay.” 

The  geomancer’s  part  in  the  interment  mzy  now  be  said 
to  end,  — that  is,  after  he  has  pocketed  his  fee.  But  the  chances 
are  that  he  or  some  other  geomancer  will  be  called  in  at  some 
future  time  to  examine  the  grave  and  see  that  everything  is 
right.  Although  every  precaution  has  been  taken,  it  frequently 
happens  that  the  dead  man’s  relatives  get  into  trouble.  If  so, 
and  if  there  be  no  other  visible  cause  for  the  trouble,  it  is  set 
down  to  the  fact  that  something  is  the  matter  with  the  ancestor’s 
grave.  The  geomancer  is  called  in  and,  if  there  is  plenty  of 
money  in  sight,  he  may  decide  that  something  serious  is  the 
matter  with  the  grave,  or  that  it  requires  only  slight  alterations. 
There  are  special  formulae  for  discovering  the  mysterious  cause 
of  the  trouble.  These  are  all  given  in  the  book  which  has  been 
mentioned.  At  the  very  worst  the  geomancer  may  discover 
that  the  body  has  run  away ! Koreans  solemnly  aver  that  such 
graves  have  been  opened  and  that  invariably  the  corpse  is  absent. 
If  so,  it  must  be  hunted  up  instanter;  and  it  may  be  remarked 
that  this  chasing  of  a long-buried  corpse  about  the  country  is 
not  the  least  gruesome  part  of  the  geomancer’s  business,  and 
might  well  deter  nervous  or  excitable  people  from  entering  the 
profession ; but  fortunately  Koreans  have  no  nerves.  It  is 
claimed  that  a successful  geomancer  will  run  his  game  to  earth 
within  twenty-four  hours,  and  when  the  afflicted  relative  digs 
at  the  indicated  spot,  he  always  discovers  the  object  of  his  search. 
This  search  is  carried  out  according  to  what  is  called  “ The  Old 
Grave  Magic  Rite.” 


CHAPTER  XXXIII 


BURIAL  CUSTOMS 

Burial  customs  are  not  uniform  throughout  Korea, 
for  the  poor  and  the  low-class  people  omit  many  of 
the  finer  points  which  are  never  forgotten  in  the  case 
of  a gentleman  of  means.  If,  then,  we  describe  the 
treatment  of  the  dead  among  the  wealthy  people  of  the  upper 
class,  it  will  be  simply  a task  of  elimination  to  describe  that 
of  any  class  in  Korean  society.  For  this  purpose,  let  us  take 
a Korean  gentleman  of  means,  the  head  of  a household,  and 
inquire  how  he  is  treated  from  the  time  he  is  known  to  be  dying 
until  his  funeral  obsequies  are  completed. 

When  he  is  found  to  be  desperately  ill,  he  is  taken  from  his 
own  chamber  and  removed  to  some  other  apartment.  The 
Koreans  have  the  notion  that  the  change  may  possibly  check 
the  course  of  the  disease.  This  is  not  akin  to  putting  the  dying 
man  outside  the  house  on  a mat.  This  is  done  only  by  the 
lower  and  more  superstitious  classes,  who  believe  that  the  death 
will  pollute  the  house  and  make  it  unlucky. 

When  the  patient  is  evidently  in  articiilo  mortis,  he  is  taken 
back  to  his  own  chamber,  and  all  his  immediate  family  come  in 
and  sit  in  perfect  silence  about  the  room.  A light  piece  of 
cotton  batting  is  put  to  the  dying  man’s  mouth  that  the  exact 
moment  of  death  may  be  recorded.  When  the  breath  ceases  to 
stir  the  cotton,  death  is  supposed  to  have  occurred,  though  in 
many  cases,  of  course,  life  is  not  yet  extinct. 

When  the  man  is  pronounced  dead,  a blanket  is  thrown  over 
the  body,  but  no  one  begins  to  wail  yet,  for  it  might  disturb  the 
disembodied  spirit  which  may  still  be  hovering  near.  An  hour 
passes,  and  then  the  family  assembles  again  and  the  wailing 


446 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


commences.  During  this  process,  which  is  audible  at  some  dis- 
tance, the  sentiments  given  expression  to  are  almost  all  in  com- 
miseration of  the  dead.  He  is  pitied  for  having  died.  His 
virtues  are  not  commonly  recited  on  such  occasions,  nor  is  refer- 
ence made  to  his  survivors,  though  there  is  no  rule  that  would 
forbid  this.  In  the  wailing  no  subjective  element  appears.  The 
wallers  do  not  complain  that  they  are  bereft,  nor  wonder  how 
they  are  to  get  along  without  the  departed  father  or  husband. 
After  an  hour  of  wailing  some  near  relative,  not  a member  of 
the  household,  or  an  intimate  friend  of  the  family  remains  to 
watch  the  body,  and  all  others  leave  the  room. 

One  of  the  trusted  servants  of  the  house,  or  some  friendly 
neighbour,  not  of  the  upper  class,  takes  in  his  hands  an  inner 
coat  of  the  dead  man,  mounts  to  the  roof  of  the  house  and 
takes  his  stand  directly  over  where  the  body  lies.  This  coat 
is  of  native  cotton,  never  of  silk  or  any  imported  goods,  and 
has  probably  been  kept  in  the  family  wardrobe  for  years  for 
this  special  purpose.  Standing  thus,  the  man  grasps  the  collar 
■of  the  coat  with  his  left  hand  and  the  hem  at  the  bottom  with 
his  right  and  waves  it  three  times  toward  the  north.  At  tlie 
first  shake  he  cries  aloud  the  full  name  of  the  deceased,  at  the 
second  shake  the  name  of  the  highest  rank  that  he  ever  attained^ 
and  at  the  third  he  announces  that  the  man  is  dead.  The  reason 
for  shaking  the  garment  is  that,  being  something  intimately 
associated  with  the  person  of  the  man,  it  forms  the  credentials 
of  the  one  who  is  announcing  the  demise,  as  much  as  to  say, 
“ Here,  behold  the  inner  coat  of  such  and  such  a man  of  such 
and  such  a rank ; him  I announce  to  be  dead.”  The  reason 
for  shaking  it  toward  the  north  is  because  shadows  fall  to  the 
north.  It  is  the  direction  of  the  shades,  its  colour  being  black. 
This  is  done  not  only  to  announce  the  death  to  other  living 
people,  but  also  that  the  spirit  of  the  dead  man  may  hear,  and 
so  be  sure  that  the  momentous  event  has  been  properly  pub- 
lished. The  reason  for  shaking  the  garment  three  times  is 
because  of  the  dead  man’s  in,  cni,  and  yc,  which  may  be  trans- 


BURIAL  CUSTOMS 


447 


lated  respectively  his  “ original  nature,”  “ righteousness  ” and 
“ etiquette.”  This  important  ceremony  completed,  the  man 
brings  down  the  coat  and  spreads  it  over  the  body  of  its  owner. 

The  family  now  assemble  again  and  wail  for  fifteen  minutes 
by  the  clock,  after  which  the  body  is  lifted  from  the  floor  and 
placed  upon  a plank,  which  is  supported  by  two  boxes  made 
specially  for  the  purpose.  The  head  must  be  toward  the  south 
and  raised  a little  higher  than  the  feet.  A screen  is  drawn 
around  the  body. 

The  next  thing  in  order  is  to  make  the  hon-pak-kwe,  or 
“ spirit  ghost  box.”  This  is  of  wood,  about  eighteen  inches 
long  and  twelve  inches  wide  and  deep.  It  is  supposed  to  hold 
in  some  occult  way  the  spirit  of  the  dead.  The  box  is  neatly 
papered,  and  inside  is  placed  a paper  case  in  the  shape  of  a box, 
and  inside  this  is  a piece  of  paper  on  which  is  written  the  name 
of  the  dead.  Sometimes  only  blank  paper  is  put  in,  and  rarely 
both  name  and  title  are  written.  This  spirit  ghost  box  is  first 
laid  at  the  head  of  the  dead  man. 

After  these  preliminaries  have  been  arranged,  a man  is 
chosen  from  among  the  near  relatives  of  the  deceased  to  have 
charge  of  the  funeral  ceremonies,  and  one  of  the  trusted  servants 
is  chosen  to  handle  all  the  funeral  expenses. 

All  the  mourners,  by  which  we  mean  the  immediate  family, 
look  upon  themselves  as  in  some  sense  criminals  upon  whom 
rests  the  responsibility  of  the  man’s  death.  They  put  aside  all 
coloured  clothing  and  all  silk,  and  dress  in  plain  linen  and  cotton. 
All  jewelry  is  put  away;  the  hair  is  taken  down.  No  boiled 
rice  is  eaten,  but  a kind  of  rice  gruel  takes  its  place.  The 
mourners  now  go  to  the  apartment  of  the  dead.  It  has  been 
divided  down  the  middle  by  a curtain,  and  the  men  take  their 
places  on  one  side  and  the  women  on  the  other.  Meanwhile 
the  master  of  ceremonies  has  sent  out  written  notices  to  the 
particular  friends  of  the  family,  and  they  come,  both  men  and 
women,  and  offer  their  condolences.  The  number  of  notices 
sent  out  varies  from  fifty  to  five  hundred.  If  the  recipient  lives 


448 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


within  reasonable  distance,  it  is  de  ngueiir  for  him  to  go  and 
offer  his  condolences.  It  is  customary  to  take  along  a little 
present  of  money,  rice,  linen,  paper,  candles  or  tobacco. 

The  one  who  is  watching  beside  the  body  now  takes  warm 
water  and  washes  it,  using  not  a cloth  but  a piece  of  clean 
paper,  while  the  family  sit  in  the  adjoining  room  or  busy  them- 
selves in  giving  away  to  needy  neighbours  the  old  clothes  of  the 
deceased.  In  preparing  the  body  for  burial,  the  hair  is  tied  up 
loosely,  not  in  a regular  top-knot,  and  all  the  combings,  which 
have  been  sedulously  preserved  for  years,  are  worked  into  the 
hair.  All  the  teeth  which  have  been  extracted  from  the  mouth 
of  the  dead  man  since  his  youth  and  all  the  finger-nail  and  toe- 
nail parings  are  put  together  in  his  pouch  and  laid  beside  him. 

Meanwhile  others  have  been  busy  making  the  new  garments 
in  which  the  body  is  to  be  dressed.  Every  part  of  the  garments 
and  the  fittings  of  the  casket  must  be  new,  — the  mattress,  blanket, 
pillow,  overcoat,  coat,  waistcoat,  trousers,  socks,  wristlets,  leg- 
gings, head-band  and  all.  The  body  is  now  removed  to  a table 
specially  prepared  for  the  purpose,  and  a full  dinner  is  placed 
before  it.  The  relatives  have  by  this  time  gathered  from  far 
and  near,  and  they  all  assemble  in  the  room  adjoining  and  kneel, 
the  men  toward  the  east  and  the  women  toward  the  west.  The 
relatives  to  the  sixth  remove  are  represented,  and  they  all  wail 
in  concert.  A pillow  is  brought,  and  each  mourner  comes  for- 
ward in  his  turn  and,  placing  his  forehead  on  the  pillow,  per- 
forms a special  ceremony. 

The  “ spirit  ghost  box  ” is  now  brought  and  placed  again  at 
the  head,  with  some  of  the  man’s  clothes  beneath  it.  His  mouth 
is  opened,  and  in  it  is  placed  some  flour  made  of  gluten  rice. 
This  is  for  the  purpose  of  holding  in  place  a certain  “ jewel  ’’ 
that  is  put  between  the  lips.  This  precious  object  is  called  the 
mu-gong-jii,  or  “ pearl  without  a hole.”  It  is  not  a real  pearl, 
but  a hard  substance  taken  from  the  shell  of  a certain  kind  of 
huge  clam  that  is  found  only  near  the  mouth  of  the  Nak-tong 
River.  It  is  a rough  substance  and  has  no  lustre,  and  it  is 


y 


BURIAL  CUSTOMS 


449 


extremely  rare.  The  clams  are  taken  only  by  the  net,  and  only 
one  in  about  ten  thousand  is  said  to  yield  a mii-gong-ju.  These 
are  not  sold,  but  are  handed  down  from  father  to  son  as  pre- 
cious heirlooms.  The  Koreans  believe  that  they  have  the  power 
of  self-propagation  by  a process  of  division,  like  certain  polyps. 

The  body  is  now  dressed  in  the  new  clothes  and  placed  on 
a table  specially  made  for  the  purpose.  A screen  is  drawn  around 
it,  and  over  the  screen  is  hung  a banner  on  which  is  written 
the  man’s  name  and  honours,  and  on  a little  table  are  placed 
some  of  his  effects,  such  as  pen,  ink-stone,  spectacles  and  seals. 
This  completes  the  first  day’s  work. 

On  the  morning  of  the  second  day  the  professional  under- 
taker comes  and  arranges  the  clothes  of  the  deceased  with  great 
care,  and  proceeds  to  tie  the  body  up  with  cords  made  of  twisted 
paper.  In  tying  the  waist-cord  he  arranges  the  knot  so  as  to 
resemble  the  Chinese  character  sini,  for  it  is  believed  that  all 
the  canonised  spirits  arrange  theirs  so. 

On  the  morning  of  the  third  day  the  undertaker  brings  the 
casket,  which  is  not  nailed,  but  is  carefully  dovetailed  and  fas- 
tened with  wooden  pegs.  The  bottom  of  it  is  covered  an  inch 
deep  with  gluten  rice  flour.  This  is  to  form  a sort  of  cushion 
into  which  the  body  will  sink  a little,  and  so  be  prevented  from 
moving  from  side  to  side  as  it  is  being  carried  to  the  grave. 
When  everything  is  ready  for  placing  the  body  in  the  casket, 
the  sons  of  the  dead  man  wash  their  hands,  or  perhaps  take  a 
full  bath,  and  then  go  in  and  place  the  body  carefully  in  its 
final  receptacle.  The  face  is  covered  with  a very  thin  film  of 
cotton  batting,  and  beside  the  body  are  placed  the  finger-nail 
and  toe-nail  parings  and  the  teeth  which  have  been  already 
referred  to.  The  remaining  space  in  the  coffin  is  tightly  packed 
with  old  clothes  of  the  deceased,  so  as  to  prevent  any  movement 
of  the  body,  and  the  cover  is  fastened  on  with  wooden  pegs. 
The  coffin  is  invariably  made  of  pine.  The  reason  is  fourfold. 
The  pine,  being  an  evergreen,  is,  in  Korean  eyes,  the  symbol  of 
manhood,  for  it  never  withers  or  casts  its  leaves  until  it  dies. 


450 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


In  the  second  place,  serpents  and  other  reptiles  will  never  go 
near  it.  In  the  third  place,  the  pine  never  rots  at  the  core, 
leaving  the  trunk  a mere  shell.  In  the  fourth  place,  pine  wood, 
Avhen  placed  in  the  ground,  decays  rapidly  and  evenly,  which, 
singularly  enough,  is  a prime  qualification  with  the  Korean. 
Anything  that  tends  to  retard  the  process  of  dissolution  is  con- 
sidered very  unpropitious.  This  is  in  striking  contrast  to  the 
belief  of  the  ancient  Egyptians  and  of  most  ignorant  and  super- 
stitious peoples. 

The  fourth  day  after  the  death  of  a Korean  gentleman  is 
called  the  day  for  putting  on  mourning.  The  only  ones  who 
wear  full  mourning  are  the  wife,  the  sons,  the  daughters  and  the 
daughters-in-law  of  the  deceased.  For  the  sons  this  consists  of 
a wide  mourner’s  hat  made  of  bamboo,  a head-band  of  coarse 
linen,  a coat  of  the  same  material,  a waist-cord  of  hemp,  leg- 
gings of  coarse  linen,  straw  shoes  and  a posiin,  or  face  screen, 
of  linen  attached  to  two  sticks  which  are  held  in  the  hands. 
For  women,  mourning  consists  in  wooden  hairpins,  clothes  of 
coarse  linen  and  straw  shoes. 

After  mourning  has  been  assumed,  all  the  mourners  assemble 
in  the  room  adjoning  that  in  which  the  body  lies,  and  wail,  the 
men  facing  the  east  and  the  women  the  west.  Only  those  who 
are  very  old  may  sit.  No  conversation  is  allowed.  From  this 
day  all  the  mourners  may  return  to  their  visual  diet. 

The  undertaker  places  the  head-bands,  combs  and  other  toilet 
articles  of  the  dead  beside  the  casket,  as  if  he  would  soon  wake 
up  and  use  them.  Fruits,  vegetables,  meats,  nuts  and  wine  are 
offered,  and  then  the  mourners  come  in  and  bow  and  wail  again. 
If  the  burial  should  be  delayed  for  three  months,  as  is  often  the 
case,  the  family  must  come  in  and  bow  before  the  body  on  the 
first  and  fifteenth  of  each  month.  Whenever  fresh  fruit  comes 
into  the  market,  some  of  it  must  be  offered  the  dead  before  the 
family  can  taste  of  it. 

The  interment  usually  takes  place  on  the  fifth,  seventh,  or 
ninth  day  after  death,  but  in  the  case  of  high  officials  or  very 


THE  SOUTH  GATE,  SEOUL 


BURIAL  CUSTOMS 


455 


wealthy  people  it  is  usually  delayed  three  months.  This  gives 
opportunity  to  make  more  elaborate  preparations. 

A burial  site  will  long  ago  have  been  selected  through  the 
services  of  a chigwan,  or  geomancer.  This  is  a science  in  itself^ 
and  has  been  described  in  a separate  chapter.  The  day  before 
the  burial  the  geomancer  and  the  chief  mourner  go  to  the  grave 
site  and  superintend  the  marking  out  of  the  grave,  being  careful 
to  drive  stakes  at  the  four  corners,  at  the  head,  at  the  foot  and 
in  the  middle  of  the  grave  plot.  Later  in  the  day  the  mourners 
bring  food  and  sacrifice  to  the  spirit  of  the  mountain,  calling 
aloud  the  name  of  the  dead  and  announcing  that  he  is  to  be 
buried  at  that  spot.  The  chief  mourner  returns  home  and  an- 
nounces to  the  dead  that  a burial  place  has  been  prepared.  Those 
that  have  remained  at  the  burial  site  dig  the  grave,  making  the 
measurements  very  exact,  so  that  the  casket  will  fit.  At  the 
bottom  they  put  sand  mixed  with  lime,  and  pound  it  down  hard, 
so  as  to  form  a solid  bed  for  the  casket  to  rest  upon. 

Two  memorial  stones  have  already  been  prepared.  They  are- 
exact  counterparts  of  each  other.  One  of  them  is  to  be  set  up 
and  the  other  to  be  buried  in  the  ground  at  the  foot  of  the  grave. 
If  the  one  that  is  set  up  is  injured  or  destroyed,  this  buried  one 
can  be  dug  up  and  erected  in  its  place.  These  stones  are  called 
the  chisiik,  or  “ stone  descriptive  of  the  character  of  the  dead.” 

The  next  work  is  the  preparation  of  the  sangyu,  or  “ death 
carriage,”  by  which  is  meant  the  bier  or  catafalque.  In  ordi- 
nary cases  this  is  rented  for  the  occasion,  but  in  extraordinary 
cases  a special  one  is  made.  It  is  supposed  to  resemble  in  shape 
the  ordinary  covered  two-man  sedan  chair,  or  litter,  in  which- 
people  are  carried  about  in  lieu  of  wheeled  vehicles;  but  it  is 
made  longer  to  accommodate  the  recumbent  posture  of  the  dead. 
It  is  covered  with  a rigid  canopy,  or  roof,  and  the  sides  are  en- 
closed. The  whole  is  painted  in  the  most  gaudy  and  fantastic 
colours,  a mixture  of  the  Korean  cardinal  colours,  — red,  blue, 
yellow,  white  and  black,  — and  is  supported  on  men’s  shoulders 
by  a network  of  poles  and  ropes.  The  number  of  carriers  is- 


452 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


determined  by  the  size  of  the  bier  and  the  splendour  of  the  occa- 
sion, Anywhere  from  eight  to  forty  men  may  be  employed  to 
carry  the  “ death  carriage.”  They  are  all  dressed  in  coarse  linen, 
with  tall  linen  caps. 

One  of  the  most  important  points  about  a funeral  is  the 
making  of  the  sinjii,  or  “spirit  master.”  It  might  be  better 
described  as  the  “ spirit  tablet,”  for  it  consists  of  a plain  piece 
of  chestnut  wood  ten  inches  long,  two  inches  wide  and  three- 
quarters  of  an  inch  thick.  It  is  left  unpainted,  and  nothing 
whatever  is  written  on  it,  but  with  it  is  placed  a sheet  of  paper 
on  which  are  written  the  name  and  office  of  the  deceased.  This 
piece  of  wood  is  placed,  together  with  the  paper,  in  a small  box 
made  specially  for  it  and  painted  black.  This  sinju,  or  “spirit 
tablet,”  is  made  of  chestnut  wood,  because  the  Koreans  believe 
that  when  a chestnut  sprouts  and  the  meat  of  the  nut  is  used  in 
feeding  the  growing  sprout,  the  shell  of  the  nut  does  not  decay, 
but  remains  attached  to  the  root  of  the  tree  until  the  latter  dies. 
Thus  they  believe  the  seed  is  preserved,  and  this  typifies  the  long 
life  of  the  family.  This  tablet  is  kept  in  the  house  for  three 
years,  vmtil  the  period  of  mourning  is  passed,  and  then  it  is 
placed  in  the  sadang,  or  “ soul  hoi;se,”  preferably  described  as 
the  ancestral  tablet  house.  One  of  these  tablet  houses  is  found 
connected  with  the  residence  of  every  well-to-do  gentleman.  The 
use  of  a separate  tablet  house  has  of  late  fallen  somewhat  into 
disuse  because  of  the  danger  of  having  the  tablet  stolen  and  held 
to  ransom.  To  lose  the  sinju  is  an  unspeakable  calamity.  Be- 
fore burial,  it  was  formerly  the  custom  to  carr}’  the  body  of  the 
dead  to  the  tablet  house,  to  let  him  take  a look  at  it,  but  of  late 
years  it  has  been  considered  sufficient  to  carry  the  “ spirit  box  ” 
to  the  tablet  house  instead ; but  at  the  same  time  the  casket  must 
be  moved  a little,  as  if  it  were  to  be  taken  also. 

All  is  now  ready  for  the  burial  procession,  which  is  a grand 
spectacular  display.  On  it  the  heir  sometimes  squanders  half 
of  his  patrimony.  Korean  folk-lore  is  full  of  stories  of  how  the 
son,  out  of  filial  piety,  spent  the  whole  of  his  patrimony  on  his 


STONE  IMAGE  NEAR  TOMB 


BURIAL  CUSTOMS 


453 


father’s  funeral.  Nowadays  such  devotion  is  found  only  in  books 
and  traditions.  ' The  funeral  procession  forms  in  the  late  after- 
noon, and  a start  is  made  just  at  twilight.  The  reason  for  this 
is  that  at  this  hour  the  streets  are  less  likely  to  be  crowded;  it 
is  the  quiet  time  of  the  day,  and  the  spirit  of  the  dead  is  less 
liable  to  be  disturbed  by  the  street  cries  and  by  the  shouts  of 
hucksters.  It  seems  from  this  as  if  the  Koreans  believe  that  the 
spirit  of  the  dead  still  accompanies  the  dead  body. 

First  in  the  procession  come  two  men  abreast,  dragging  after 
them  torches  made  of  brushwood.  The  lighted  ends  trail  on  the 
ground,  leaving  a wake  of  sparks.  Now  and  again  they  will 
raise  the  torches  and  whirl  them  about  their  heads  until  they 
break  into  flame  again.  Behind  these  comes  the  procession  be- 
tween two  lines  of  lantern-bearers,  each  lantern  being  made  of 
an  iron  frame,  over  which  is  draped  red  and  blue  gauze  silk. 
This  silk  prevents  the  candles  being  blown  out  by  the  wind,  but 
it  is  quite  diaphanous. 

First  in  the  procession  proper  comes  the  master  of  cere- 
monies mounted  on  a horse,  and  behind  him  marches  a man 
bearing  aloft  the  myimgjimg,  or  banner,  inscribed  with  the  name 
and  honours  of  the  deceased.  Then  comes  a line  of  lanterns  across 
the  street,  connecting  the  lines  of  lanterns  on  the  sides.  Then 
comes  a sort  of  cabinet  or  shrine,  containing  the  spirit  box  and 
the  spirit  master  or  tablet.  On  either  side  of  it  march  the  female 
slaves  of  the  deceased,  with  enormous  piles  of  hair  on  their  heads. 
They  may  number  from  two  to  half  a dozen.  Then,  after  an- 
other line  of  lanterns,  comes  the  catafalque,  which  surges  along 
slowly  upon  a mass  of  writhing  shoulders,  the  bearers  chanting 
a weird  song,  which  enables  them  to  keep  in  step.  They  have 
been  given  copious  draughts  of  wine,  and  it  is  only  their  num- 
bers that  keep  them  on  their  feet.  If  the  deceased  is  of  high 
rank,  a man  will  be  standing  on  the  bier  on  the  front  of  the 
casket,  and  ringing  a bell  and  marking  time  for  the  bearers, 
and  another  stands  at  the  back  for  the  same  purpose. 

Along  either  side  of  the  catafalque  walk  a number  of  banner 


454 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREx\ 


carriers,  each  banner  recording  the  merits  of  the  deceased.  These 
are  often  sent  by  the  friends  of  the  dead,  and  correspond  to  the 
flowers  that  are  sent  as  tokens  of  love  in  the  West.  Immedi- 
ately behind  the  catafalque  comes  the  chief  mourner,  the  eldest 
son  of  the  deceased,  in  a “ chair  ” covered  with  coarse  linen,  and 
on  either  side  walk  the  husbands  of  his  slaves.  The  other  mem- 
bers of  the  bereaved  family  follow  in  single  file,  their  chairs 
being  flanked  by  the  husbands  of  the  slaves  of  the  dead  man’s 
relatives.  Then  come  the  distant  relatives  and  the  friends  of 
the  deceased,  and  the  whole  company  is  completed  by  a howling 
crowd  of  street  boys,  who  add  noise  if  not  dignity  to  the 
obsequies. 

It  is  forbidden  to  bury  a body  inside  the  Avails  of  Seoul,  nor 
can  the  dead  be  carried  out  of  any  of  the  gates  at  will ; but  two- 
of  the  gates  are  reserved  for  this  purpose,  the  so-called  “ Water- 
mouth  Gate  ” and  the  “ Little  West  Gate.”  In  times  of  pesti- 
lence, when  a thousand  people  are  dying  a day  in  Seoul,  as 
happened  in  the  summer  of  1886,  it  is  easy  to  imagine  that  these 
gates  are  thronged  with  one  stream  of  funeral  processions. 
Especially  Avas  this  so  at  that  time,  for  the  gates  Avere  closed  and 
locked  betAveen  nine  o'clock  at  night  and  four  o'clock  the  next 
morning. 

Arriving  at  the  burial  site,  the  catafalque  is  placed  under  a 
temporary  aAvning,  and  the  Avhole  party  spend  the  night  in  a 
neighbouring  village  or  in  extemporised  booths.  Early  in  the 
morning  the  banner  inscribed  Avith  the  name  of  the  dead  is  spread 
over  the  coffin  and  a little  food  is  offered,  .\fter  all  haA-e  boAved 
and  Avept,  the  casket  is  placed  on  two  transverse  poles  and  car- 
ried to  the  grave.  A compass  is  used  to  make  sure  that  the 
casket  lies  in  precisely  the  proper  direction.  A piece  of  black 
silk  is  placed  OA’er  it,  and  upon  this  a thin  board  is  laid.  Lime 
is  packed  in  on  the  sides  and  OA’er  the  top  to  a depth  of  tAvo 
inches,  and  then  the  grave  is  filled  in  Avith  earth  and  lime  mixed.. 

It  is  a question  AAdiether  the  shape  and  appointments  of  a 
Korean  grave  are  not  the  most  beautiful  in  the  Avorld.  The 


THE  AMERICAN  METHODIST  CHURCH,  SEOUL 


BURIAL  CUSTOMS 


455 


gentle  southern  slope  of  a hill  is  dug  into  so  as  to  form  a wide 
flat  space;  the  earth  thus  excavated  is  formed  into  a crescent- 
like bank  all  around  the  north,  east  and  west  sides  of  the  plot. 
In  the  centre,  between  the  arms  of  this  crescent,  the  grave  is 
dug,  and  when  the  earth  is  piled  up  on  it,  the  shape  is  that  of 
an  exact  hemisphere.  In  front  the  ground  is  terraced  down  to 
the  original  slope  of  the  hill.  Back  of  the  grave  and  on  the  two 
sides  a thick  grove  of  pine-trees  is  planted.  Nicely  turfed  and 
well  taken  care  of,  this  grave  is  simply  exquisite  in  its  simplicity 
and  neatness.  These  little  groves  of  pines  about  the  graves  form 
bright  spots  in  an  otherwise  rather  forbidding  landscape.  It 
must  not  be  supposed  that  all  graves  are  arranged  as  elaborately 
as  this.  The  common  people  bury  anywhere  and  everywhere, 
and  so  carelessly  oftentimes  that  dogs  and  foxes  dig  into  the 
graves  and  expose  the  bones  of  the  dead. 

In  the  case  of  very  wealthy  men  or  of  princes,  the  grave  site 
will  be  ornamented  with  stone  figures  of  men  and  animals,  ar- 
ranged on  either  side  and  facing  each  other.  Before  the  mound 
itself  there  will  be  a smooth  polished  stone,  which  is  used  as  a 
table  on  which  to  place  the  sacrificial  food  each  year. 

The  desecration  of  a grave  is  one  of  the  most  serious  crimes 
in  the  Korean  penal  code.  It  is,  of  course,  a capital  offence. 
In  our  own  land  children  are  sometimes  kidnapped  and  held  to 
ransom,  but  in  Korea  it  is  the  dead  that  are  kidnapped,  and  a 
Korean  will  always  give  more  for  the  return  of  his  father’s  corpse 
than  he  would  for  his  living  son.  Not  infrequently  a man  finds 
a placard  set  up  beside  his  ancestral  grave  stating  that  the  head 
of  the  corpse  has  been  taken  away,  but  will  be  returned  if  a cer- 
tain amount  of  money,  always  an  enormous  sum,  is  delivered  at 
a certain  specified  place  and  time.  A self-respecting  Korean  will 
put  in  pawn  his  whole  estate  to  get  back  the  body  of  his  parent, 
or  any  missing  part  of  it. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV 


MODERN  IMPROVEMENTS 

IF  a traveller  who  visited  Korea  twenty  years  ago  should 
come  back  here  in  this  year  of  grace  1906,  he  would  be 
startled  at  the  material  changes  that  have  been  effected 
because  of  the  opening  of  the  country  to  foreign  inter- 
course. But  if  he  should  make  excursions  from  the  open  ports 
and  the  main  centres  of  commerce,  he  would  soon  discover  that, 
with  the  exception  of  the  six  hundred  miles  of  railroad  and  of 
the  telegraph  lines,  these  evidences  of  material  advancement  are 
almost  wholly  confined  to  those  centres. 

Japanese  energy  and  capital  have  transformed  Fusan  from 
an  insignificant  fishing  village  into  a thriving  city  with  water 
works,  electric  lights,  commodious  hotels,  banks,  museums  and 
imposing  municipal  structures.  The  same  may  be  said  in  lesser 
degree  of  Wonsan,  Mokpo  and  Kunsan.  Chemulpo  is  the  most 
important  port  of  entry  as  yet.  Her  proximity  to  the  capital 
has  won  her  this  distinction,  but  the  trunk  railway  terminus  at 
Fusan  must  eventually  push  her  ahead,  especially  when  she 
becomes  a port  of  call  for  the  great  trans-Pacific  steamship  lines. 
Chemulpo  is,  however,  still  a distinctly  live  place.  Real  estate 
in  the  foreign  or  Japanese  quarters  brings  from  twenty  to  thirty 
3^en  per  square  metre,  which  gives  us  a glimpse  of  the  genuine 
life  of  the  place.  Not  only  has  the  Japanese  population  passed 
the  ten  thousand  line,  but  the  Koreans  have  flocked  in  until  they 
aggregate  some  thirty  thousand.  The  foreign  town  is  fairly 
well  built,  though  as  yet  there  are  few  public  buildings  of  note. 
The  splendid  sea-view  from  the  steep  side-hill  on  which  most  of 
the  foreigners’  houses  are  built  makes  it  a ven,?^  attractive  place 
to  live.  A mile-long  bund  affords  facilities  for  handling  the 


MODERN  IMPROVEMENTS 


457 


commerce  of  the  place,  but  as  yet  large  quantities  of  freight 
have  to  lie  out  on  the  bund  exposed  to  the  weather,  except  so 
far  as  it  can  be  protected  by  tarpaulins.  There  is  no  better 
indication  of  the  life  of  this  port  than  the  fact  that  trade  is 
always  in  advance  of  the  facilities  for  handling  and  stor- 
ing it. 

As  for  Seoul,  the  changes  have  been  equally  great,  though 
its  superior  size  makes  it  more  difficult  for  us  to  get  a bird’s- 
eye  view  of  them,  as  we  can  do  at  Chemulpo  or  Fusan.  The 
first  important  innovation  was  the  abrogation  of  the  rule  that 
the  gates  of  the  city  should  be  locked  every  night  before  nine 
o’clock  and  not  opened  without  special  orders  from  the  King 
until  morning.  The  city  wall,  especially  on  the  south  side,  has 
become  a nuisance,  since  it  blocks  traffic;  and  it  is  only  a 
matter  of  time  when  the  picturesque  old  battlements,  which  look 
down  from  their  half-millennial  height  upon  the  impertinence 
of  galvanised  iron  roofs,  will  be  levelled.  Already  it  has  be- 
come necessary  to  plan  for  the  enlargement  of  the  South  Gate,, 
which  is  only  eighteen  feet  wide,  and  through  which  flows  a 
very  large  fraction  of  the  entire  trade  of  the  capital.  Here,  too, 
the  price  of  real  estate  has  increased  tenfold  during  the  past  ten 
years  and  has  doubled  during  the  past  year. 

In  spite  of  all  that  has  been  said  about  the  filth  of  Seoul, 
it  is  a fairly  clean  place  as  Far  Eastern  cities  go.  Those  who 
come  direct  from  Peking  or  other  inland  cities  of  China  exclaim 
in  admiration  over  the  broad,  level  and  comparatively  clean 
streets  of  the  Korean  capital.  Seoul  has  not  made  notable 
advance  in  the  line  of  public  buildings.  The  beautiful  and 
classic,  though  severe,  lines  of  the  Roman  Catholic  cathedral 
dominate  the  town  from  the  architectural  standpoint.  The 
French,  English  and  Russian  legation  buildings  are  imposing 
enough,  but  they  are  not  conspicuous.  Almost  all  the  Korean 
government  buildings  are  still  in  the  pure  Korean  style.  Some 
little  use  has  been  made  of  brick  and  corrugated  iron,  but  the 
effect  is  not  pleasing.  The  two  styles  do  not  harmonise.  The 


45^ 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


crude,  cheap  foreign  buildings  of  the  Chinese  merchants  are 
incongruous  with  the  general  tone  of  Korean  buildings,  above 
which  they  tower  in  all  the  blankness  of  brick  and  mortar.  The 
Japanese  have  everywhere  preserved  the  tinder-box  character  of 
their  architecture.  Some  of  them  are  beginning  to  use  brick 
and  stone,  and  the  general  tendency  seems  to  be  in  the  direction 
of  more  solid  and  enduring  forms  of  architecture. 

Foreign  residence  is  gravitating  toward  the  hills  between  the 
city  wall  and  the  river,  three  miles  away.  The  time  is  approach- 
ing when  we  shall  ha\e  here  a quarter  corresponding  to  the 
“ Bluff  ” in  Yokohama  or  the  “ Hill  ” in  Kobe.  These  hills 
form  an  ideal  place  for  foreign  residence.  They  are  high,  well 
wooded  and  conveniently  situated,  and  soon  a second  line  of 
electric  tramway  between  Seoul  and  the  river  will  make  these 
suburban  places  easily  accessible  at  all  times. 

The  problems  of  proper  water-supply  and  sewerage  are  still 
to  be  soh  ed.  An  American  syndicate  are  arranging  to  put  in 
a good  system  of  water-works,  and  until  that  is  done  little  can 
be  accomplished  in  the  way  of  sewerage. 

As  for  passenger  transportation,  Seord  has  made  more 
advance  than  the  average  port  in  the  Far  East.  The  American- 
Korean  Electric  Company  operates  about  nine  miles  of  surface 
road  on  the  trolley  system.  It  is  a distinct  success.  The  Koreans 
are  good  patrons  of  the  road,  and  the  numbers  carried  ha\e 
increased  steadily  from  the  \’ery  start.  The  employees  are  largely 
Koreans,  both  in  the  power  house  and  on  the  line  everywhere. 
It  is  the  unanimous  opinion  of  the  Americans  who  operate  the 
road,  that  the  Koreans  make  competent  hands  in  e\  ery  depart- 
ment of  the  work.  They  have  almost  displaced  Japanese  both  as 
mechanicians  and  overseers.  This  is  a striking  testimonial,  and 
one  that  should  hat'e  weight  in  settling  the  question  whether, 
as  so  many  foreigners  seem  to  think,  the  Korean  is  incapable 
of  attaining  proficiency  in  the  field  of  applied  science. 

The  same  company  supplies  electric  light  to  all  and  sundry, 
but  as  yet  there  are  very  few  municipal  lights  in  the  streets. 


RESIDENCE  OF  THE  AMERICAN  CONSUL-GENERAL 


MODERN  IMPROVEMENTS 


459 


Each  Korean  is  supposed  to  hang  out  a lamp  at  night.  These 
serve  at  least  , to  make  the  darkness  visible. 

Korean  high  officials  still  cling  to  their  four-man  chairs,  but 
the  middle-class  officials  have  taken  kindly  to  the  jinrikisha,  a 
A'ehicle  which  has  come  into  use  only  during  the  last  five  or  six 
years. 

I have  mentioned  the  railroads  as  being  the  greatest  material 
improvement  yet  instituted  in  Korea,  opening,  as  they  do,  great 
tracts  of  farming  land  which  were  formerly  almost  closed  to  the 
world,  because  of  the  difficulties  of  transportation ; but  another 
important  step  has  been  taken  in  the  erection  of  a large  number 
of  lighthouses  along  the  dangerous  coast  of  the  peninsula.  This 
has  been  undertaken  b}^  the  Imperial  Customs,  and  is  being 
pushed  vigorously.  Its  importance  can  hardly  be  overestimated. 
The  dangerous  nature  of  the  coast  is  well  shown  by  the  fact 
that  it  has  been  deemed  necessary  to  build  over  thirty  light- 
houses. Many  more  than  half  of  these  are  on  the  shorter  western 
coast. 

Late  years  have  developed  a fairly  efficient  postal  system,  and 
Korea  is  a member  of  the  International  Postal  Union.  The 
system  has  proved  an  unmixed  blessing  to  the  Koreans,  although 
it  has  always  shown  a large  deficit  at  the  end  of  the  year.  The 
Japanese  have  now  taken  over  all  postal  and  telegraph  offices, 
and  it  may  be  that  their  efficiency  will  be  largely  increased. 

One  encouraging  feature  of  all  these  changes  is  that  the 
Koreans  accept  them  gladly  and  make  free  use  of  them.  They 
are  quick  to  see  the  advantage  of  quick  communication. 

But  with  all  the  beginnings  that  have  already  been  made 
toward  a higher  economic  life,  it  must  be  confessed  that  as  yet 
they  are  only  beginnings.  The  commercial  centres  are  as  3'et 
objects  of  wonder  to  the  countryman,  and  the  new  life  has  hardly 
taken  hold  of  the  masses.  Nor  will  it  do  so  until  education  has 
laid  its  beneficent  hand  upon  them  and  the  standard  of  civic 
morals  has  been  greatly  elevated.  These  things  are  of  greater 
immediate  importance  than  economic  progress,  for  upon  them 


460 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


depend  the  ultimate  benefits  of  such  progress.  Until  justice  is 
again  blindfolded,  and  a man  can  secure  redress  for  wrongs 
and  be  secure  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  results  of  his  own  labour, 
railroads,  telegraphs  and  postal  facilities  can  be  only  added  in- 
struments of  oppression. 

Special  emphasis  should  be  laid  upon  the  forward  movement 
of  missions  along  eleemosynary  lines.  The  well-equipped  Sever- 
ance Memorial  Hospital  has  been  lately  completed  and  is  doing  a 
work  of  untold  value.  The  munificence  of  friends  in  America 
has  also  resulted  in  the  erection  and  equipment  of  excellent 
foreign  hospitals  in  Fusan  and  Pyeng-Yang.  The  Young 
Men’s  Christian  Association  is  erecting,  by  the  munificence  of 
Mr.  John  Wanamaker,  a handsome  and  commodious  building 
in  Seoul,  where  the  association  has  made  surprising  advances 
and  bids  fair  to  prove  an  elevating  instrument  of  enormous 
potency.  Rapid  advancement  is  being  made  along  the  line  of 
publication,  and  the  present  plan  of  cooperation  between  the 
different  Protestant  missions  promises  large  returns  in  every 
field  of  moral,  intellectual  and  social  activity. 


CHAPTER  XXXy 


THE  FUTURE  OF  KOREA 

IT  will  be  seen  from  the  foregoing  chapters,  especially  those 
in  which  the  actions  of  Japan  have  been  traced,  why  I name 
this  book  “ The  Passing  of  Korea.”  Japan  by  a series  of 
successful  wars  has  secured  a position  from  which  she  can 
dictate  to  Korea.  That  this  is  satisfactory  to  any  of  the  other 
treaty  powers  can  hardly  be  believed.  They  acquiesce  in  it  for 
personal  convenience.  There  are  very  cogent  reasons  why  the 
arrangement  should  be  distasteful  to  British,  German  and  Ameri- 
can merchants.  This  point  is  worth  careful  study.  The  forced 
agreement  of  last  November  included  a clause  in  which  Japan 
promised  to  carry  out  the  terms  of  the  treaties  between  Korea  and 
the  other  powers.  Now  these  treaties  guarantee  to  the  subjects 
of  the  different  governments  extraterritorial  rights  in  Korea. 
They  are  under  the  legal  jurisdiction  of  their  own  consular  author- 
ities. These  treaties  also  fix,  in  a general  way,  the  amount  of 
customs  duties  to  be  levied  on  foreign  imports.  It  is  clear  that 
these  two  things  are  of  great  importance  to  American  and  other 
foreign  trade  in  the  peninsula;  but  since  the  conclusion  of  the 
so-called  “ agreement  ” of  November  some  of  the  leading  Japa- 
nese papers  have  strongly  advocated  the  setting  aside  of  the  extra- 
territorial rights  of  foreigners  in  Korea,  on  the  ground  that  this 
will  facilitate  the  establishment  of  uniform  courts  of  justice. 
These  papers  must  think  that  the  powers  interested  are  so 
impressed  by  Japanese  military  successes  that  any  proposals  she 
may  broach  will  be  acceded  to  without  opposition,  — an  opinion 
in  which  the  attitude  of  the  American  government  certainly  tends 
to  confirm  them.  How  otherwise  would  semi-official  organs  of 


462 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


the  Japanese  government  venture  the  wild  proposal  to  break 
another  of  Japan’s  recent  promises? 

, Japan  began  and  carried  through  this  whole  matter  by  the 
clever  use  of  misinformation  and  broken  promises,  which  suc- 
/cessfully  hoodwinked  the  American  public.  For  this  reason  I 
/ urge  with  all  the  power  at  my  command  that  the  course  of  events 
/ should  be  carefully  watched  by  those  who  are  interested  in  the 
/ preservation  of  the  principle  of  an  open  door  in  the  Orient,  and 
I the  preservation  of  rights  which,  though  only  partially  utilised 
as  yet,  are  full  of  potentialities  for  the  future ; and  I urge  that 
immediate  steps  be  taken  to  forestall  the  concession  to  Japan,  by 
the  executive  department  of  our  government,  of  the  right  to 
dominate  the  persons  and  the  interests  of  American  citizens  in 
Korea. 

y My  belief  that  vigilance  is  necessary  is  based  upon  the  follow- 
/ ing  consideration.  The  treaty-making  power  is  vested  in  Con- 
/ \ gress  and  not  in  the  executive.  The  latter  cannofadd  a single 
I word  to  a treaty  between  the  United  States  and  a foreign  power. 
/ It  follows  that  the  executi\'e  cannot  abrogate,  or  drop  a single 
I word  from,  an  existing  treaty.  Is  it  not  pertinent,  then,  to  ask 
j by  what  authority  our  treaty  obligations  to  Korea  were  so  sum- 
‘ mar'ily  impaired?  If  the  clause  by  which  we  guarantee  to  use  our 
good  offices  to  help  Korea  in  case  she  is  oppressed  can  be  ignored 
by  our  executive  officials,  why  should  they  not  be  able  to  turn 
over  our  nationals  to  Japanese  jurisdiction  or  consent  to  a change 
in jyorean  customs  tariffs  which  l^:ould  kill  our  jpromising  trade  ? 
This  would  be  only  a natural  outcome  of  the  manifest  tendency 
^ of  our  executive  to  assume  legislative  functions.  TJie  trouble  is 
that  Americans  do  not  realise  that  tire  tenffer  feeling  of  Japan 
toward  us  politically  is  based  upon  the-facE-that  w£  are  giving 
her  every  opportunity_to  kill  us  commercially  in  the  Far  East. 

But  even  tlie~ establishment  of  a proteHoratelBy  Japan  would 
V not  necessarily  mean  the  certain  destruction  of  Korean  nationality 
if  it  were  carried  out  along  internationally  legal  lines.  Japanese 
statesmen  who  are  supposed  to  represent  the  real  feelings  of  the 


THE  FUTURE  OF  KOREA 


463 


Japan  government  announce  that  Korea  has  not  been  annexed 
but  is  still  a separate  state.  There  is  one  fact  which  belies  this 
statement,  and  shows  conclusively  that  Korea  can  never  become 
an  autonomous  power  except  through  some  great  international 
■cataclysm  which  is  not  at  present  contemplated.  This  fact  is  that 
Japan  manifestly  intends  to  allow  Korea  to  be  filled  with  Japanese 
subjects,  and  so  rapidly,  that  within  a decade  they  shall  form  a 
body  strong  enough  to  hold  Korea  in  the  event  of  an  armed  pro- 
test on  the  part  of  the  Korean  people.  This  enormous  inrush  of 
Japanese  is  not  the  result  of  a glut  of  labour  or  a lack  of  oppor- 
tunity in  Japan,  for,  as  has  been  recently  shown  in  a most  illu- 
minating book,^  the  arable  land  in  Japan  is  but  half  utilised.  The 
present  deplorable  famine  in  that  country,  which  has  called  forth 
the  laudable  sympathy  of  Americans,  was  doubtless  greatly  ag- 
gravated, if  it  was  not  actually  caused,  by  the  rush  of  able-bodied 
workmen  to  Korea,  where,  partially  freed  from  the  restraints  of 
their  strict  police  surveillance,  they  could  reap  golden  harvests 
by  taking  advantage  of  the  helplessness  of  the  Koreans.  This , 
is  the  darkest  cloud  which  overhangs  Korea,  and  it  is  one  that 
has  no  silver  linkig.  UF&ilsdh:::is~tlMT-Kai:eaAs_laJiin,g  Jier.  place 
■ in  line  with  'PolancMh^rmenia  a^  the  Congo  “ Free  ” State. 

The  question  arises,  what  should  Korea  do  under  tfi^'e~ciT^~ 
■eumstances?  What  can  she  reasonably  do  to  preserve  from  ex- 
tinction the  people  who  form  the  nation?  There  is  only  one 
answer.  She  must  bend  herself  to  the  task  of  educating  the 
people  up  to  a point  where  they  can  prove  themselves  the  equals 
of  their  conquerors  and,  by  the  very  force  of  genuine  manhood, 
exert  an  influence  which  shall  counteract  the  contempt  which  the 
Japanese  feel.  This  may  not  avail,  for  the  Japanese  are  slow 
to  show  respect  to  any  form  of  ability  which  cannot  be  measured 
in  terms  of  military  or  brute  force.  To-day,  in  spite  of  America’s 
intellectual  achievements,  the  Japanese  are  laughing  in  their 
sleeves' at  us,  because  they  think  we  are  afraid  of  them;  what, 
then,  must  they  think  of  the  Korean  ? 

1 The  New  Far  East,  by  Thomas  F.  Millard. 


464 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


Baron  Kaneko,  in  his  campaign  of  education  in  America,  told 
us  that  Japan  intended  to  colonise  largely  in  Korea,  but  that  she 
would  discourage  intimate  relations  between  the  two  peoples,  — 
that  she  would  consider  the  Koreans  a “ lower  race.”  Signifi- 
cant words  these,  which  should  be  put  alongside  the  specious 
protestations  of  Japanese  statesmen  that  Koreans  are  to  be 
humanely  treated. 

Every  day  brings  news  of  the  existence  of  a surprising  and 
hitherto  unguessed-at  warmth  of  feeling  for  their  country  on  the 
part  of  Koreans.  This  has  given  the  lie  to  those  special  pleaders 
for  Japan  who  have  denied  the  existence  of  patriotism  in  Korea, 
and  gives  promise  of  a determination  to  do  whatever  may  be  done 
to  weld  the  Korean  people  into  a peaceful  but  intelligent  and 
prosperous  body  which  even  the  Japanese  will  be  slow  to  stig- 
matise as  contemptible. 

As  to  the  agencies  at  hand  for  the  carrying  on  of  this 
important  work,  a few  words  here  will  not  be  out  of  place. 
Without  doubt  the  most  powerful  agency  will  be  the  American 
missionaries  now  resident  in  Korea.  Not  even  the  Japanese  can 
openly  object  to  any  efforts  that  are  put  forth  for  the  elevation 
of  the  intellectual  and  moral  condition  of  that  people,  and  there 
are  special  reasons  for  believing  that  only  those  who  can  speak 
pthe  language,  and  thus  can  get  near  to  the  Korean  heart,  will  be 
able  to  carry  out  a thorough  consistent  and  continuous  plan  for 
the  vindication  of  Korea’s  claim  to  intellectual  capacity.  The 
Viissionaries  are  set  apart  from  all  political  complications,  and 
their  efforts  for  Korea  can  affect  political  affairs  only  as  a stiffen- 
ing of  Korea’s  moral  fibre  and  a thorough  awakening  of  her 
dormant  intellectual  life  shall  make  inevitable  her  reinstatement 
in  the  regard  of  the  Japanese  themselves. 

In  this  great  work  the  American  people  ought  to  be  deeply 
interested,  and  with  it  they  should  be  more  closely  identified  than 
by  an  occasional  word  of  sympathy.  If  there  is  any  nation  on 
earth  that  deserves  the  active  and  substantial  aid  of  the  American 
people  that  nation Ts  Korea.  We  were  the  first  ^^TsterrL4la^:er- 


THE  FUTURE  OF  KOREA 


465 


to  conclude  a treaty  with  her,  and_in  making  that  treaty  we 
guaranteed  to  keep  a watchful  eye  upon  her  safety  and  in- 
terests^ For  twenty-five  'TeaTS~‘ American  representatives  and 
other  residents  in  Korea  reiterated  the  statement  that  we  stood 
for  the  “ square  deal,”  for  the  ascendency  of  right  as  against 
mere  brute  force,  and  Korea  had  a right  to  regard  our  govern- 
ment as  the  one  above  all  others  wliich._AV£ml£L.demur  at  any 
encroachment  upon  her— independence.  But  when  the  time  of 
c^fficulty  approached  and  America’s  disinterested  friendship  was 
to  be  called  upon  to  prove  the  genuineness  of  its  oft-repeated 
protestations,  we  deserted  her  with  such  celerity,  such  cold- 
heartedness  and  such  a refinement  of  contempt  that  the 'blood 
of  every  “decent  A.merican‘'citizen  in^Korea  boiled  with  indigna- 
tion. While  the  most  loyal, -cultured  and--patriotic  Koreans  were 
committjog  suicide  one  after  the  other  because  they  would  not 
survive  the  death  of  their  count]5^7~thWAlhenca:n'  Minister  was 
toasting  the  perpetrators  of  the  outrage  in  bumpers  of  champagne; 
utterly  callous  to'tlTCMearth-4hr-ees  -ciTan:eraprre'*^ich  had  treated 
American  citizens  with  a courtesy'WndWbnsideration  they  had 
enjoyed  in  no  other  Oriental  country. 

..  "How'can  we,  th'e’Arrrerican  people,  prove  to  the  Koreans  that 
we  were  not  accessory  to  this  act  which  was  so  contrary  to  the 
principles  we  have  professed  to  hold  ? There  is  only  one  way,  — 
by  helping  them  to  the  one  thing  that  will  enable  them  to  hold 
together  as  a nation,  and  give  them  time  and  opportunity  to 
prove  the  falsity  of  the  libellous  statements  that  have  been  so 
freely  circulated,  and  which  have  temporarily  alienated  the  good- 
will of  so  many  of  our  people.  That  one  thing  is  education. 
The  Koreans  have  awakened  to  the  fact  that  this,  which  should 
have  been  their  first  consideration  many  years  ago,  is  now  their 
last  resort,  and  they  are  clamouring  for  education.  I believe 
there  are  thousands  of  Koreans  who  will  open  their  purses  and 
subscribe  generously  to  the  funds  required  for  this  great  work. 
Much  is  already  being  done  by  the  various  missions,  but  it  is 
necessarily  circumscribed  and  cramped  by  the  lack  of  funds. 


466 


THE  PASSING  OF  KOREA 


What  is  needed  is  a wide-spread  and  thorough  canvass  of  the 
entire  empire  for  the  purpose  of  getting  the  subject  rightly  be- 
fore the  Korean  people.  There  would  be  nothing  in  this  sugges- 
tive of  opposition  to  Japan.  On  the  contrary,  every  effort  should 
be  expended  with  special  reference  to  codperation  with  whatever 
plans  the  dominant  power  may  have  formed  for  common  school 
education.  Korea  can  gain  nothing  by  holding  back  and  offering 
to  the  plans  of  Japan  a sulky  resistance.  They  are  face  to  face 
with  a definite  condition,  and  theories  as  to  the  morality  of  the 
forces  which  brought  about  the  condition  are  wholly  academic. 
My  discussion  of  these  forces  in  the  foregoing  pages  is  partly  by 
way  of  record  and  partly  to  awaken  the  American  people  to  the 
duty  which  lies  upon  them.  The  Koreans  need  help  in  establish- 
ing such  a system  as  I have  hinted  at  above.  They  will  do  all 
they  can,  but  the  question  arises  whether  generous-minded  people 
in  America  will  come  to  the  aid  of  the  Koreans  and  give  their 
personal  services  or  financial  support  to  such  a movement.  Is 
there  any  man  or  body  of  men  in  this  country  who  will  seize  the 
opportunity  to  found  in  the  city  of  Seoul  an  institution  of  learn- 
ing which  shall  be  the  nucleus,  the  rallying-ground,  of  a great 
national  movement?  It  is  the  opinion  of  those  most  conversant 
with  the  feeling  of  the  Korean  people  that  there  is  no  other  place 
in  the  world  where  money  invested  in  education  will  bring  larger, 
surer  or  more  beneficent  results. 


Index 


Abuses  by  Japanese,  213-220. 

Admiral  Yi  Sun-sin,  98. 

Adoption  of  child,  365. 

As:glutinative  language,  300. 
Agricultural  implements,  269. 
Agriculture,  269. 

Ajuns,  52. 

Alexaieff,  Kir,  156,  159. 

Allen,  Dr.  H.  N.,  125,  141. 

Alliance,  Anglo-Japanese,  176. 
Alphabet,  Attempt  at,  76. 

Alphabet,  The  present,  92. 

American  expedition,  118. 

American  imports,  286. 

American  interests,  462. 
American-Korean  Electric  Company 
458. 

American  legation  withdrawn,  222. 
America’s  duty,  465. 

Anglo-Japanese  alliance,  176. 

Animal  stories,  385. 

Animals,  19. 

Annara  rice,  174. 

Architecture,  241,  333. 

Art,  330. 

Architectural,  333;  bijouterie  in,  331 ; 
ceramics,  334;  colour  in,  332;  dec- 
orations, 333  ; embroidery,  334  ; 
form,  332;  grotesque,  333;  inlaid 
work,  334;  mural  decoration,  333; 
painting,  334;  perspective  in,  331. 
Assassination  of  Queen,  137. 
Astronomical  observatory,  291. 

Banishment,  63. 

Banks,  237. 

Barter,  238. 

Battle  of  Chemulpo,  199. 

Battlefields,  391. 

Bears,  22. 

Beating  as  punishment,  64. 

Bell  of  Seoul,  93. 

Bell  of  Silla,  73,  290. 

Bell,  Legend  of,  328. 

Belles  lettres,  307. 

Biography,  308 
Birds,  23. 

Blackmail,  67. 

Blood-bridge,  292. 


Boat,  The  tortoise,  298. 

Boats,  260. 

Bomb  and  mortar,  298. 

Bridges,  253. 

Bridges,  Suspension,  254. 

Brokers,  House,  282. 

Brown,  J.  McLeavy  (C.  M.  G.),  150,, 
156,  158,  159,  [7^,  233. 

Bruguiere,  Bishop,  no. 

Buddhas,  295. 

Buddhism,  404. 

Buddhism  introduced,  73. 

Buddhism  outlawed,  91. 

Buddhism  revived,  174. 

Buddhism  supreme,  78. 

Buddhist  excesses,  82. 

Buddhist  relics,  292. 

Buddhist  stories,  378. 

Building,  241. 

Bullocks,  Pack,  255. 

Burial,  295. 

Burial  customs,  445. 

By-products,  270. 

Capital,  Seoul  becomes,  go. 

Capital  punishment,  61. 

Carts,  252. 

Cash,  234. 

Caste,  50. 

Cattle,  19. 

Cave,  Death,  298. 

Census  of  1677,  107. 

Census  of  1776,  108. 

Ceramic  art,  102,  273. 

Ceramics,  334. 

Cereals,  15. 

Chain-gang,  The,  64. 

Chair,  Sedan,  263. 

Change  in  government,  49. 
Characteristics,  29. 

Chemulpo,  456. 

Chess,  280. 

Chinese  conservatism,  7. 

Chinese  ideograph,  76. 

Chinese  innovations,  75. 

Chinese  predominant,  126. 

Chinhan,  71. 

Ch'oe  Chi-wun,  310. 

Chong  i\Iong-ju,  89. 


468 


INDEX 


Christian  missions.  126,  464. 
Christianity  and  temperament,  33. 
Chumong,  72. 

Circulating  library,  31 1. 

Climate,  10. 

Coal-mines.  274. 

Coinage,  234. 

Commerce,  2S1. 

Commercial  morality,  284. 
Concubinage,  356,  369. 

Confucian  school,  338. 

Confucian  stories,  373. 
Confucianism,  405. 
Consanguineous  marriage,  81. 
Conservatism,  7,  34. 

Coolies  demanded,  210. 
Corruption,  Official,  50. 
Counterfeiting,  177. 

Couriers,  268. 

Cromlechs,  294. 

Cruelty,  43. 

Currency,  178,  234. 

Customs  of  people,  398. 

Customs,  Maritime,  233,  285. 

Dai  Ichi  Ginko,  178. 

Dancing  Girls,  318,  357. 
Decapitation,  61. 

Decorations,  333. 

Decorations,  House,  250. 

Deer,  22. 

Deer  blood  as  medicine,  22. 
Denny,  Judge  O.  N.,  127. 
Detectives,  396. 

Dialects.  304. 

Diamond  Mountain,  292. 
Dismemberment,  61. 

Divination,  422,  425. 

Divorce,  368. 

Doctors,  Female,  353. 

Dogs,  21. 

Dogs  as  food,  21. 

Dolmens,  294. 

Dominoes,  280. 

Donkeys,  264 
Dravidian  dialects,  300. 

Drums,  316. 

Dye,  Gen.  William,  139. 

Ear  and  nose  mound,  loi. 
Eclipse,  Averting  an,  430. 
Education,  335,  337,  338,  465. 
Electric  company,  159. 

Electric  light,  458. 

Electrical  works,  458. 
Embroidery,  334. 

Emeute  oi  1882,  122. 


Eineute  of  1884.  125. 

Emperor,  The,  343. 

Accession,  114,  344;  at  Russian  Le- 
gation. 345 ; and  Americans,  347 ; 
difficulties,  344;  firmness,  348 ; kind- 
ness, 346:  superstition,  346. 
Emperor’s  protest.  The,  220,  223. 
Empire  declared,  157. 

Eunjin  image,  296. 

Euphony,  304. 

Examination,  National,  79,  337. 
Exorcism,  359,  407. 

Exorcists,  413,  427. 

Exports,  285. 

Extortion,  67. 

Faction:;,  50. 

Fall  of  Kogurjm,  75. 

Fall  of  Koryu,  89. 

Fall  of  Pakche,  75. 

Fall  of  Silla,  77. 

Fauna,  19. 

Ferry,  253. 

Fetiches,  41  r. 

Feudalism,  Japanese,  3. 

Feudalism  lacking,  80. 

Fiction,  310. 

Fire  mountains,  267. 

Firearms,  Japanese,  95. 

Fish,  25,  271. 

Floors,  245. 

Flora,  12. 

Flowers,  18. 

Flute,  The  Jade,  297. 

Flutes,  315. 

Folk-lore,  273. 

Fords,  253. 

Foreign  trade,  284. 

Fortune-telling,  422. 

Foulk,  George  C.,  298. 

Foundations  of  house,  243. 

Foxes.  22. 

Freebooters,  86. 

French  expedition,  117. 

French  priests  executed,  115. 

French  vessels  wrecked,  iii. 

Fruits,  14. 

Fuel,  271. 

Funeral  of  Queen,  157. 

Funeral  procession,  437,  453. 

Funeral  rites,  445. 

Fusan,  456. 

Fusan  trading  station,  93,  lo2. 

Future  of  Korea,  461. 

Gambling,  280. 

Game  birds,  23. 


INDEX 


469 


Games,  276. 

Gates  with  monkeys,  251. 

Gene7'al  Sherma7i,  The,  1 16. 
Generosity,  36. 

Geomancy,  437,  441. 

Ginseng,  18, '270. 

Go-between,  Professional,  359. 

Gold  mining,  274. 

Gold-mining  license,  229. 

Golden  age,  90. 

Golden  pagoda,  291. 

Goldsmiths,  273. 

Government,  295. 

Gojo  Maru,  The,  257. 

‘Grammar,  301. 

Grave  desecration,  455. 

Grave  sites,  443. 

Greathouse,  Clarence,  168. 

Greek  Church  Mission,  167. 

Guilds,  281. 

Hall,  Capt.  Basil,  no. 

Hamil,  Hendrik,  106. 

Han  Kyu-sul,  221. 

Hanabusa,  119. 

Hasegawa,  Marshal,  212. 

Heating  houses,  245. 

Hideyoshi,  94. 

Historical  works,  83,  307. 

Hong-du  invasion,  86. 

Honorifics,  302. 

Horse  relay,  268. 

Horses,  19. 

Hospital,  Severance  Memorial,  460. 
Hospital  at  Fusan,  460. 

Hospital  at  Pyeng-yang,  460. 
Hospitality,  37. 

House  brokers,  282. 

House  decoration,  250. 

House  site,  246. 

House  tax,  228. 

Houses,  241. 

Hunting,  275. 

IjiCHi,  General,  190. 

1 1-chin  society,  210. 

Images,  295,  296. 

Imagination,  327. 

Imbert,  Bishop,  no. 

Imitation,  308. 

Imports,  285. 

Imprisonment,  64. 

Improvements,  Modem,  256. 
Independence  Club,  148,  150,  159,  161, 
165,  166. 

Independence  guaranteed,  204. 
Industries,  269. 


Inlaid  work,  334. 

Inouye,  Count,  132,  133,  136. 
Instrumental  music,  314. 

Insurance,  281. 

Interest  on  money,  283. 

Intrigue,  180. 

Intrigue,  Russian,  192. 

Invasion  by  Hong-du,  86. 

Invasion,  Japanese,  94,  95. 

Invasion,  Japanese  second,  loO. 
Invasion  by  Kitan,  82. 

Invasion,  Manchu,  103,  104. 

Invasion,  Mongol,  83. 

Iron,  274. 

Ironclad,  298. 

I to.  Marquis,  204,  221, 

Jade  flute,  297. 

Jaisohn,  Dr.  Philip,  124,  150,  152,  154, 
157- 

Japan,  causes  of  transformation,  5. 
Japan,  Early  relations  with,  74. 

Japan  invaded  by  Mongols,  84. 
Japan-Russia  War,  185. 

Japanese  abuses,  213-220. 

Japanese  army  of  invasion,  95, 
Japanese  civilisation,  6. 

Japanese  corsairs,  86. 

Japanese  feudalism,  3. 

Japanese  invasion,  94. 

Japanese  protectorate,  221. 

Japanese  second  invasion,  100. 
Japanese  suzerainty,  102. 

Ji^gy^  The,  257. 

Jingu,  Empress,  74. 

Junks,  261. 

Justice,  56,  59,  67. 

Kato,  95,  96. 

Kija,  69. 

Kija's  money,  234. 

Kija’s  well,  289. 

Kijun,  71. 

Kim  Pu-sik,  83,  310. 

Kim  Yung-jun,  170. 

Kmshitc  marti,  207. 

Kitan  invasion,  82, 

Kites,  278. 

Koguryu,  Fall  of,  75. 

Koguryu,  origin,  72. 

Konnmgo,  The,  315. 

Konishi,  95,  96. 

Koryetz,  The,  193,  200. 

Koryu,  Fall  of,  v 

Koryu,  origin,  78. 

Kuk-min  society,  21 1. 

Kwaga,  The,  337. 


INDEX 


470 

Labour  songs,  319. 

Land  tax,  225. 

Language,  28,  300. 

Language  schools,  339. 

Lawyers  unknown,  66. 

Legation  guards,  188. 

Legation  withdrawn,  222. 

Legend  of  Bell,  328. 

Legends,  69,  387. 

Legendre,  Mr.,  i68. 

Libraries,  309,  31 1. 

Lighthouses,  459. 

Literature,  Chinese,  79,  306. 
Lobanoff-Yamagata  Agreement,  152. 
Love  stories,  31 1. 

Low,  Hon.  Frederick,  118. 

Luck,  Worship  of,  412. 

Mahan,  71. 

Manchu  invasion,  103. 

Manchu  monument,  106. 

Mararanta,  73. 

Markets,  239. 

Marriage,  Consanguineous,  81. 
Masanpo,  176. 

Mathematics,  339. 

Medicine,  18. 

Medium,  Spiritual,  414. 

Megata,  Mr.,  212. 

Military  rank,  80. 

Min  Yong-ik,  124. 

Minerals,  ii. 

Mining,  273. 

Mining,  American,  150. 

Mirror,  Magic,  297. 

Mi)yoks,  295. 

Missionaries,  464. 

Missions,  Protestant,  126. 

Miura.  Viscount,  134. 

Miura’s  trial,  143. 

Flob  law,  51. 

Modern  improvements,  456. 
Mollendorf,  P.  G.  von,  123,  233. 
Monasteries,  80,  293. 

Monetary  troubles,  177. 

Money,  234. 

Money,  Paper,  239. 

Mongol  excesses,  84. 

Mongol  invasion,  83. 

Mongol  invasion  of  Japan,  84. 
Mongol  Queen,  87. 

Monkeys  on  gates,  251. 

Monument  of  Manchus,  106. 
Monuments,  288. 

Morality,  41. 

Mortgages,  283. 

IMotherhood,  353. 


Mudang,  The,  358,  413,  414. 

Muhak,  91. 

Mural  decoration,  333. 

Murder  of  Queen,  137. 

Music,  314. 

Instruments,  315;  notation,  319; 
score,  317;  time,  314;  vocal,  316. 
Myths,  393. 

Nagamori  scheme,  208. 

Namhan,  King  at,  105. 

Neutral  zone,  189. 

Neutrality  declared,  189. 

Newspapers,  151,  340. 

Nickel  coinage,  173,  177,  236. 

Novels,  310. 

Observatory,  Astronomical,  291. 
Obstetrics,  355. 

Om,  Lady,  i8o. 

Omens,  388. 

Official  indirection,  57. 

Opening  of  Korea,  114. 

Oppert.  27,  298. 

Oratory,  305. 

Orchestra,  314. 

Origin  of  Koguryu,  72. 

Origin  of  Korea,  69. 

Origin  of  Koryu,  78. 

Origin  of  Pakche,  73. 

Origin  of  people,  27. 

Origin  of  Silla,  72. 

Padok,  280. 

Pagoda  in  Seoul,  87. 

Paint,  250. 

Painting,  334. 

Pakche,  Fall,  75. 

Pakche,  origin,  72. 

Pak  Yong-hyo,  132. 

Patisu,  The,  359,  413,  421. 

Paper,  14. 

Paper  money,  239. 

Parks,  249. 

Parties,  Political,  93. 

Passions,  Stories  of,  395. 

Patriotism.  80. 

Pavlow,  Mr.  A.,  169. 

Pearls.  25. 

Pedagogy,  336. 

Peddlers'  guild,  162,  204,  281. 

Penal  Code,  6r. 

Persecution  of  Roman  Catholics,  109. 

1 10,  1 14,  1 1 8. 

Philology.  300. 

Physicians,  Female,  353. 

Physiognomt',  27. 


INDEX 


471 


Pigs,  20. 

Pitch-penny,  278. 

Play-grounds,  249. 

Plot  against  Queen,  135. 

Po-an  Society,  209. 

Poems.  321. 

Poetry,  314. 

Poisoning,  61. 

Police,  62. 

Policy,  Japanese,  191. 

Political  parties,  93. 

Pony.  Pack.  256. 

Popular  feeling,  51. 

Population,  107,  108. 

Position,  Geographical,  10. 

Post-office,  459. 

Postal  Union,  167. 

Precipice  of  flowers,  323. 

Prefectural  governments,  53. 

Press,  Public,  340. 

Pride,  38. 

Priestcraft,  78. 

Primogeniture,  68,  363. 

Prisons,  64. 

Reforms  of  Yi  T’a-jo,  90,  93. 

Relics,  288. 

Relics  of  Kija,  70. 

Relics  of  Koryu,  81. 

Relics  of  Silla,  73. 

Religion,  31,  403. 

Religious  ceremony,  294. 

Revenue,  175,  225. 

Rice,  15. 

Roads,  252. 

Roofs.  244. 

Rogers,  Rear-Admiral,  118. 

Roze,  Admiral,  expedition,  117. 

Roman  Catholic  persecution,  109,  no, 
1 14,  1 18. 

Roman  Catholicism,  106,  107,  loS,  109, 
1 1 2. 

Roosevelt  appealed  to,  220,  223. 

Russia  and  Masanpo,  176. 

Russian  intrigue,  192. 

Russian  legation.  King’s  asylum,  146- 
Russian  policy,  183. 

Russian  timber  concession,  185. 

Proclamation,  Japanese,  191. 
Progressives  organize,  120. 

Property  rights,  363. 

Prophecy,  90,  389. 

Protectorate,  Japanese,  221. 

Protest  of  Emperor,  220. 

Protestant  missions,  126. 

Protocol  of  Feb.  23,  1904,  204. 
Proverbs,  399. 

Public  speaking,  305. 

Publication,  340. 

Pukhan  built,  108. 

Punishments,  62,  130,  367. 

Pyeng-yang,  69. 

Pyonhan,  71. 

Quarrels,  42. 

()uelpart  Island,  87. 

Queen  degraded,  142. 

Queen's  assassination,  137. 

Queen’s  funeral,  157. 

Queen’s  party  dominant,  120. 

Railway  concession,  167. 

Railway,  Seoul-Chemulpo,  150. 

Railway,  Seoul-Fusan,  160. 

Railway,  Seoul-wiju,  179. 

Railways,  262. 

Rainy  season,  1 1 . 

Rebellion  of  Yi  Kwal,  103. 

Reforms,  130,  152,  154. 

Reforms  of  1730,  107. 

Reforms,  Russia  against,  183. 

Sables,  22. 

Sale  of  office  51. 

Salt-making,  272. 

Salt  tax,  228. 

Sanitation,  241. 

Satsuma  ware,  102. 

Sewage,  247. 

Scenery,  12. 

Schools,  335. 

Private,  335,  340;  grading,  336; 
pedagogy,  336 ; Confucian,  338  ; 
middle,  339;  language,  339  ; mission, 
340 ; books,  341 ; industrial,  341  ; 
technical,  341. 

Schufeldt,  Commodore,  and  United 
States  treaty,  123. 

Scientific  books,  307. 

Sea  traffic,  262. 

Seclusion  of  women,  349. 

Seoul,  457. 

Seoul  becomes  capital,  90. 

Seoul  taken  by  Japanese,  97. 

Sepulture,  295. 

Sericulture,  273. 

Serpent  worship,  409. 

Sev'erance  Memorial  Hospital,  460. 
Shamanistic  tales,  384. 

Sheep,  20. 

Shop  runners,  282. 

Shops,  282. 

Siege  of  Namhan,  105. 

Signal  fires,  267. 

Silk,  273. 

INDEX 


472 

Silla,  F all  of,  77. 

Silla,  origin,  72. 

Silla  consolidates  Korea,  75. 

Silla  kings’  tombs,  290. 

Silversmiths,  273. 

Simony,  51. 

Sinclon,  87. 

Singing,  316. 

Site,  house,  246. 

Slavery  as  punishment,  432. 

Slavery,  Female,  433. 

Slavery  in  Koryu,  81. 

Snake  worship,  25. 

Snakes,  24. 

Songs,  316. 

Labour,  319;  convivial,  323;  fishing, 
326. 

Sorceresses,  358. 

Speyer,  A.  de,  156,  157. 

Spirit  of  smallpox,  417, 

Spirit  stories,  385. 

Spirits,  406. 

Spiritual  medium,  414. 

Sports,  276. 

Stevens,  Mr.,  212. 

Stone  images,  296. 

Stone  fights,  276. 

Stories, 

Animal,  385;  battlefield,  391;  Bud- 
dhist, 378;  Confucian,  373 ; customs, 
398;  detective,  396;  legends,  387; 
myths,  393;  omens,  388;  passion, 
395 ; prophecy,  389;  Shaman,  383; 
spirit,  385;  Uncle  Remus,  386; 
wisdom,  392  ; women,  391. 
Story-tellers,  Professional,  312. 

Streets,  247. 

Sungari,  The,  193. 

Superstition,  403. 

Surprise  wrecked.  The,  116. 

Swinging,  279,  371. 

Taiwunkun,  regent,  114. 

Dies,  158;  resumes  control,  140;  re- 
tires, 120. 

Tangun,  69. 

Tangun  altar,  288. 

Taxes,  225. 

Boat,  231;  furs,  230;  ginseng,  739; 
house,  228 ; land,  225 ; minerals, 
229 ; poll,  232 ; salt,  228 ; special, 
232;  timber,  231. 

Telegraphs,  267. 

Temperament,  29. 

Testamentary  rights,  363. 

Text-books,  341. 

Textile  fabrics,  273. 


Tides,  1 1. 

Tigers,  21. 

Tile,  244. 

Timber  concession,  Russian,  185. 
Tombs,  298. 

Tombs  of  Silla  kings,  290. 
Topography,  ii. 

Tortoise  boat,  98,  298. 

Torture,  65. 

Total  abstinence,  108. 

Trade,  281. 

Trade,  Foreign,  284. 

Trading  station,  Fusan,  93,  102. 
Tradition,  312. 

Transformation  of  Japan,  Cause  ofj  5. 
Translation  of  poems,  321. 
Transportation,  252. 

Travelling,  263. 

Trapping,  275. 

Treason,  62. 

Treaty  with  America,  123. 

Treaty  with  Japan,  120. 

Trees,  12. 

Trial  at  law,  58. 

Trial  in  Court,  66. 

Trial  of  Miura,  143. 

Triangles,  316. 

Truthfulness,  40. 

Turanian  languages,  300. 

Turf,  246. 

Type-printing,  92. 

Uncle  Remus’  Stories,  386. 

Variak,  The,  196,  200. 

Vegetables,  17. 

Violins,  315. 

Vocal  music,  316. 

Waeber,  C.,  141,  146,  150,  156. 
Waeber-Komura  agreement,  152. 

Wall  across  Korea,  291. 

Wall  of  Seoul,  90. 

Walls, 

City,  250;  house,  246;  yard,  248. 
War,  Japan-China,  127. 

Waste  land  scheme,  208. 

Water  carriers,  259. 

Wealth,  68. 

Weapons,  95. 

Wiju,  opening,  186. 

Wills,  363. 

Wiman,  70. 

Wisdom,  stories,  392. 

Woman,  349. 

Amusements,  370;  concubines,  356 


INDEX 


473 


dancers,  357;  divorce,  368;  edu- 
cation, 360;  grades,  350;  low,  352; 
motherhood,  353 ; occupations,  353, 
354;  palace,  357;  physician,  353; 
property  rights,  360;  punishments, 
351;  religious,  406;  seclusion,  349; 
slavery,  359,  433 ; stories  of,  391  ; 
titles,  371;  wages,  360;  work,  360; 
visiting,  352. 

Worship, 

Dragon,  41 1 ; fetich,  41 1 ; luck, 
41 2 ; serpent,  409 ; spirits,  406. 


Yalu,  timber  concession,  185. 

Yi  Keun-tak,  182. 

Yi  Kwal’s  Rebellion,  103. 

Yi  Sun-sin,  Admiral,  98. 

Yi  T’a-jo,  88. 

Yi  Yong-ik,  171,  173,  179,  180. 
Yongampo,  Russians  in,  185. 

Young  Men’s  Christian  Association, 
460. 

Yun  Chi-ho,  136,  163,  165. 

Zithers,  315. 


f 

V 

I 


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